CAFOs vs. Free Range

Pleasant Valley Farms built one of the state’s largest farming operations last year, in one of Vermont’s most polluted watersheds, without a permit, according to documents obtained by VTDigger.

It's an all-too-familiar story, with no easy villain.

It’s never easy losing a business. But the painful thing about AtlantaFresh Artisan Creamery’s story is how far it fell, and how fast. When I call Ron Marks, who founded the line of grass-based dairy products almost a decade ago, his voice is hoarse with grief. “If I told you things were going well, I’d be lying to you,” he says. Two years ago, he was running a multi-million dollar company with over 30 product lines, which were sold at Whole Foods Market locations all over the country. But last week,

The Tennessee legislature is poised to pass a bill Thursday that, with a last minute amendment, would allow many livestock farms to operate without state water quality permits.

It would exempt all but the largest farms which produce manure and other liquid waste from mandatory permits; medium-sized farms could voluntarily apply for permits. Poultry farms with dry waste, no matter their size, would be exempt.

Groups challenging the constitutionality of Iowa's so-called "ag gag" law said they received an important legal green light this week with a U.S. district court ruling that lets the lawsuit proceed.

A federal judge Tuesday denied Iowa's motion to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the state’s ag gag law violates the First Amendment, protecting freedom of speech.