In 2021, the White House issued a Presidential Executive Order directing the EPA among other federal agencies to intensify action to mitigate climate change. Accordingly, all concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) were required to determine and report on emissions, a demand considered both impractical and burdensome.
R-CALF (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund-United Stockgrowers’ of America) has requested the EPA to define and classify feedlots according to capacity ranging from family farms to CAFOs with up to 50,000 head. R-CALF has requested exemption for family farms and operations using grazing, irrespective of the presence of corrals or other structures required for handling livestock.
R-CALF called on EPA to “refrain from imposing any additional regulatory burdens on America’s family farmers and ranchers.” The organization makes a valid case that if small family farms are driven out of production by onerous regulations, their capacity would inevitably be replaced by even larger feedlots.
Environmental reporting requirements for CAFOs are an important consideration for poultry production complexes with the potential to impose expense and require time to provide data that will ultimately be applied to the disadvantage of the industry