Description

In Nebraska, as in many states across the nation, factory farms housing tens of thousands of hogs have altered the physical, cultural, and economic landscape, and have generated complex and deeply divisive conflicts among family farmers, environmentalists, agribusinesses, and elected officials. A reporter long familiar with the controversy, Carolyn Johnsen draws on a wealth of interviews, archival material, and her own extensive experience as a journalist to present a timely, informative, and balanced account of this complicated and troubling agricultural practice--and to put a human face on its causes and consequences. Here everyone has a say: farmers and neighbors suffering from proximity to the factory hog farms; pork producers adopting the latest hog confinement technology in the face of fierce opposition; politicians attempting to interpret the "science" and shape public policy in a maelstrom. The result is the story of a struggle for the heart and soul of rural America.