Size matters

The recall of over a half a billion eggs provokes one thing when it comes to farming: size matters. In a Time magazine article, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said, "This has nothing to do with the size of farms. Something like this could happen with smaller farms or larger farm." Does Sec. Northey really think that a small family farm could be linked to 1,300 cases of salmonella across the nation?

The issue here is not the outbreak itself, but rather the scale of this outbreak and the conditions that allowed for it to happen. With large factory farms, such as Jack DeCoster's, we are 'putting all our eggs in one basket' as it were. Factory farms are breeding grounds for disease due to the number of animals crammed into small spaces. Despite being pumped full of antibiotics these animals can never be fully resistant to large outbreaks like the one currently effecting the health of our nation.

This current outbreak is more proof that our state and national agencies need to make sure these sites are properly inspected. In addition, Iowa lawmakers need to pass stronger permitting standards on factory farms, including local control. Our elected officials need to do their job and protect the people over profit driven factory farms.