"Factory Farms Massing in Missouri, Kansas, New Report Says"

"In Greeley County in western Kansas, voters last week overturned a 12-year-old referendum that prohibited large hog farms from locating there.

But in northwest Missouri, a new health ordinance in Andrew County now limits where factory farms can build.

The struggle over huge livestock farms continues to roil in Missouri and Kansas, and no wonder -- a new report shows the two states in the middle of the growing concentration of factory farming.

The report, 'Factory Farm Nation, How America Turned its Livestock Farms Into Factories,' includes a map that pinpoints the areas nationally, by state and county, with the highest numbers of factory farm livestock. The northern half of Missouri is heavy on hogs; feedlot cattle are predominant in Kansas. ...

The report was produced by Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit organization that advocates safe food policies."

Karen Dillon reports for the Kansas City Star December 29, 2010.