World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - (Page 24)

Livestock & Water Problem: Animal waste poses a great danger to groundwater Livestock operations are often located close together with little buffer land. Where animals drink freely from streams and lakes, banks erode, and the water is polluted in the process. Solution 1: Scale down The sheer size of many livestock operations creates significant water-quality problems. That’s because most Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) produce too much waste for the land to absorb. Because CAFOs are frequently clustered together, the problem is compounded. Solution 2: Bio-gas Stored correctly, animal waste and other organic matter can produce bio-gas, an important fuel source in many parts of the world. A byproduct of decay, bio-gas can be used instead of wood for cooking. land area than small farms and often rely on medicines to prevent the spread of disease among their closely contained animals. These farms are mostly located in developed countries or near urban centers. livestock farming in these countries depends heavily on transportation to reach markets. The term “small farm” is relative but may be used to refer to almost any modest operation, from a small organic goat farm in Portland, Maine, to a subsistence farmer with a single goat in Cameroon. Globally, most small farmers are the rural poor who keep livestock for income and for protein, which is chronically lacking in developing-world diets. Farming in limited spaces and with no knowledge of good practices, these farmers may exacerbate deforestation and taint water supply, though animal waste is less of a problem. Their livestock are more likely to eat fresh, local foliage and grass but may wander freely, making them vulnerable to disease and theft. These farmers are not typically close to markets and must travel to urban areas to sell their livestock. Because they lack access to distribution, markets and safe processing, small farms are a vast untapped resource as a food supply for developing countries. Clearly, small farms in the developing world and giant industrial operations are quite different. While “livestock’s long Shadow” briefly discusses poor rural farmers and the difficulties that sector faces, the report focuses largely on industrial farming, perhaps because this sector is rapidly growing. It does not explore the impact of small farmers on the environment, said Montague Demment, director of the Global livestock Collaborative research Support Program and professor of ecology at the University of California at Davis. “You really have to look at this carefully to understand the impact of a goat on a small farm in kenya compared to a giant feedlot operation in the United States,” Demment said. “One of the great G ood Habits Are Easier for Small Farms 24 May/June 2008 | WOrlD Ark www.heifer.org http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008

World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked & Answered Why Water Matters The Carbon Hoofprint From Farm to Table Healing History Mixed Media Heifer Spirit Heifer Bulletin World Ark Market Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.