Legislation supported by Big Ag lobbying groups threatened to undermine local governments’ ability to pass ordinances applying to large livestock operations.

Last week, GROWW (Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin) joined community groups across Wisconsin celebrating a decision by Governor Evers to veto Assembly Bill 957 and protect a cornerstone of Wisconsin communities’ local control.

This bill, supported by industry lobbying groups, would have prohibited certain local ordinances relating to corporate agriculture practices, particularly Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (known as CAFOs). Grassroots organizers across the state warned the bill threatened to strip away key local control relating to industrial agriculture in Wisconsin communities. During the March Senate committee hearing, lobbyists from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and Venture Dairy Cooperative repeatedly asked senators to prohibit legal ordinances passed in three Wisconsin counties and six towns which aimed to mitigate local costs and impacts of large livestock operations. Towns in multiple Wisconsin counties have been studying similar ordinances. 

Seeing the bill as an attack on local control, members of GROWW and other organizing groups across Wisconsin flooded the Governor’s office with messages opposing the bill. In the span of a week, more than 650 people across the state sent messages to Governor Evers, and on March 29th, he heeded demands and vetoed the legislation.