Beyond Factory Farming:
Corporate Hog Barns and the Threat to Public Health, the Environment, and Rural Communities

Examines the changes resulting from industrialization of the hog sector and the effects they have on family farms, the food we eat, conditions of work, communities, and the relationship of governments to corporations and citizens. This book highlights, not just the Canadian hog sector, but structural forces at work reshaping communities and economies around the world. Available from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/beyond-factory-farming

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

In this book Pollan asks, “What should we have for dinner?” He takes the reader on a journey defined by four meals produced through four production systems: in­dustrial, big organic, beyond organic and hunter-gatherer. Pollan’s answers have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating.

Foundations of Sand:
Considering the Rationale for Factory Farming by Dr. Bill Weida

Factory Farms have spread across the landscape of Canada and the US on a string of claims that have misled many communities. You’ve seen “The Meatrix”; now see why the purported benefits of factory farms are full of holes, and the reality that lies beyond the claims. (March, 2004)
http://www.sraproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/foundationsofsand.pdf (pdf)

Pollution Shopping in Rural America and Canada:
The myth of economic development in isolated regions by Dr. Bill Weida, Professor of Economics Colorado College. November, 2001

http://www.sraproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/pollutionshoppinginruralamerica.pdf

Writing Off the Rural West:
Globalization, Governments and the Transformation of Rural Communities. Edited by Roger Epp and Dave Whitson

Some of the most intense effects of globalization can be seen in rural communities. Despite a booming world economy, rural communities--and the people who work in natural-resource industries like farming, forestry, mining or fishing--have been hard hit by recent international trade agreements. This collection looks at changing rural life, across the country and around the globe. Co-published by University of Alberta Press and the Parkland Institute.

http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/default.htm">Dr. John Ikerd’s papers

Dr. Ikerd is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at University of Missouri, Columbia, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. He has written many accessible papers about rural communities and sustainable agriculture. Make sure to read “The Questions Rural Communities Should Ask About CAFOs” and “Top Ten Reasons for Rural Communities to be concerned about Large-scale, Corporate Hog Operations”.

Cesspools of Shame

Documents how animal waste from factory farms threatens human health and our nation’s rivers. A wonderfully concise handbook for activists. (Natural Resources Defense Council and Clean Water Network, July 2001).
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/cesspools/cessinx.asp

http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/resources-pubs.html">Agriculture that Makes Sense--Making Money on Hogs by the Land Stewardship Project

This publication focuses on the 50–sow hog enterprise of one Minnesota crop and livestock operation. The case study, written by LSP’s Jodi Dansingburg and Doug Gunnink of the Min­nesota Department of Agriculture, compares the farm’s production records to the averages of the top performing hog operations as reported in the regional Minnesota Farm Business Management Program annual report. The case-study farm minimizes expenses through such production practices as outdoor farrowing and low-cost housing.
1996–8 pages. $4.00; $3.60–Member discount