Research

Animal feeding operations harm the environment, climate and public health

March 19, 2024

Throughout the U.S., huge facilities raising hundreds or thousands of hogs, poultry or cattle are wreaking havoc on the environment by polluting the air, adding to the climate crisis and contaminating...

Contaminated cantaloupe: The risk of farm fields near CAFOs

December 7, 2023

A salmonella outbreak from contaminated cantaloupes produced in Mexico has garnered headlines – eight people have died, 3 in the U.S. and 5 in Canada, at least 45 hospitalized and many others sickened...

EWG analysis: North Carolina’s factory farms are everywhere – even floodplains and other flood-prone areas

December 1, 2022

A new EWG geospatial analysis finds that, as of 2020, 156 of North Carolina’s swine and poultry factory farms are located in or just outside floodplains – 59 swine and 97 poultry facilities.

Double trouble: Wisconsin's land and water are inundated with pollution from animal manure and excess farm fertilizer

February 2, 2022

A new investigation by the Environmental Working Group and Midwest Environmental Advocates finds that in nine Wisconsin counties, farmers are overapplying both commercial fertilizer and animal manure...

UPDATE: Exposing Fields of Filth

July 30, 2020

In the past eight years, three predominantly Black, Native American and Latino counties in North Carolina – already home to most of the state's industrial hog operations – added 30 million chickens...

Manure Overload

May 28, 2020

In almost all of Minnesota's farm counties, the combination of manure plus commercial fertilizer is likely to load too much nitrogen or phosphorus or both onto crop fields, threatening drinking water...

EWG Study and Mapping Show Large CAFOs in Iowa Up Fivefold Since 1990

January 21, 2020

The number of large concentrated animal feeding operations, or large CAFOs, in Iowa increased nearly fivefold in the past two decades, a new study from Environmental Working Group reveals, with almost...

Explosion of Unregulated Factory Farms in Maumee Watershed Fuels Lake Erie’s Toxic Blooms

April 9, 2019

The Maumee River, overloaded with fertilizer and manure, is the single largest source of the phosphorus that triggers blooms of toxic algae in Lake Erie. Over half of the manure in the Maumee River...

Under the Radar

February 13, 2019

Although North Carolinians' attention has rightly been focused on the state's dense concentration of factory swine farms – concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, which produce 10 billion...

And Manure for All

December 13, 2018

North Carolina's dense concentration of approximately 6,500 confined animal feeding operations, often called CAFOs, annually generate two million tons of dry chicken waste and 10 billion gallons of...

Conservation

Less Farm Pollution, More Clean Water

September 20, 2017

The federal farm bill is scheduled for reauthorization in 2018. The conservation title of a new farm bill is a remarkable opportunity to jump-start progress toward clean water, clean air and a better...

N.C. Bill to Shield CAFOs’ Liability Would Curb Legal Rights for Hundreds of Thousands

April 17, 2017

The legislation would cap the amount of damages that could be sought in so-called nuisance suits brought by owners of property near concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.

Exposing Fields of Filth

November 4, 2016

When high water breaches animal barns, waste lagoons or fields with applied manure, the nearby surface water becomes toxic.

Farm Subsidies