Rapid changes in the swine industry are leading to larger production facilities being concentrated into smaller geographic areas. These changes challenge our ability to balance the need for a healthy and responsible pork industry with the need to respect and retain the health and quality of life of rural citizens. This report documents the concerns and questions of rural citizens and provides a scientifically-based response to those concerns.
On October 28-30, 1994, the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development at Iowa State University and the Center for Rural Affairs co-sponsored a conference in Kansas City, Missouri, entitled "Livestock Production for Sustainable Rural Communities." Invitees included farmers and rural residents from throughout the United States concerned with the impact of large-scale swine production facilities in their area. A team of scientists affiliated with Iowa's Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH) from The University of Iowa and the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) at Iowa State University cooperated to systematically record the concerns and questions of farmers and rural residents at the conference. These concerns were summarized and found to fall into five topical areas: water quality, air quality, social issues, economics, and worker health.
A second scientific workshop was organized to provide scientific responses to the specific questions posed by farmers and rural residents in the first conference. A planning committee consisting of eleven scientists (see list on page 48) from The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, and Drake University was formed to formulate the workshop structure and to identify appropriate scientists. This workshop, entitled "Understanding the Impacts of Large-Scale Swine Production: An Interdisciplinary Scientific Workshop," was held on June 29-30, 1995, in Des Moines, Iowa. The purpose of the workshop was to provide a document summarizing and synthesizing current scientific research in direct response to concerns posed in the first conference. This document is the result of this two-year process.