Star Observer: At first-ever GROWW Town Hall, western Wisconsin residents organize to shape the next legislature
More than 80 members of GROWW gathered Saturday alongside eight candidates for the Wisconsin Legislature to begin what organizers describe as a long-term effort to win a state-level change for western Wisconsin communities.
Candidates represented communities from Hudson and River Falls to Menomonie, Mondovi and Chippewa Falls, spanning Assembly Districts 28, 29, 30, 67, 68, 75 and 92, as well as Senate District 23.
The first-ever GROWW Town Hall marked the public launch of a member-led legislative strategy that began with a year-long process of debating, refining and ratifying a statewide agenda centered on healthcare, housing, agriculture, public education, local control and economic security for regular people. The event brought candidates and community members together to discuss the agenda, identify opportunities for partnership and begin building the relationships necessary to advance legislation in the years ahead.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
WQOW: Western Wisconsinites demand state action to protect family farms, rural communities
Tuesday morning, dozens of western Wisconsin farmers gathered to raise awareness about the impacts of a controversial factory farm expansion project.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Residents speak out against expansion of Western Wisconsin factory farm
Residents are speaking out against the expansion of a factory farm in Western Wisconsin.
Tuesday, people could be seen with signs saying, “people over profit” and “small farms not factory farms” in front of the state Department of Administration building on Clairemont Avenue in Eau Claire.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Western Wisconsin Residents Continue Fighting CAFO Expansion
Pierce County residents and GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin officially challenged that permit by filing for a contested case hearing nearly a year ago. Many expressed environmental concerns about the expansion, specifically over manure spread and groundwater contamination. They’ve also expressed more broad concerns about how the expansion of the CAFO, or concentrated animal feeding operation, would impact the ability of smaller farms to remain competitive.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Western Wisconsin residents try to turn back a massive factory farm’s DNR permit
“Whether it’s a data center coming into your community, or a massive factory farm like Ridge Breeze, everyday people need to continue to stand together, organize and create greater change that will protect and put the power back into the hands of regular people,” Danny Akenson, an organizer with Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin, said at a news conference before the hearing.
Akenson told the Wisconsin Examiner that it’s no surprise that people of “all political stripes” are seeking basic protections for their communities against corporate extraction.
“The reality is that rural America — and really communities of all different sizes, rural, urban, suburban — are standing up against massive corporate overreach and the extraction of wealth from their communities into the pockets of shareholders and investors,” he said.
GRO-WW has been heavily involved in the fight against Ridge Breeze and against the growing popularity of factory farms across western Wisconsin. The organization helped connect the plaintiffs in the contested case with attorneys from Midwest Environmental Advocates to dispute the permit decision.
Their petition against the permit asks that at the very least it be modified to make sure the DNR is monitoring the local water so the farm is held accountable if the state’s groundwater pollution rules are violated.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Ridge Breeze Legal Hearing: Here’s what to know
The legal battle to stop the proposed Ridge Breeze expansion to 6,500 cows will come to a head on Tuesday, March 3, when a contested case hearing opens in Eau Claire.
The first day of the hearing will be for public testimony, during which area residents and business owners will be able to provide comments about the expansion’s threat to their water and the environment.
Star Observer: At first-ever GROWW Town Hall, western Wisconsin residents organize to shape the next legislature
More than 80 members of GROWW gathered Saturday alongside eight candidates for the Wisconsin Legislature to begin what organizers describe as a long-term effort to win a state-level change for western Wisconsin communities.
Candidates represented communities from Hudson and River Falls to Menomonie, Mondovi and Chippewa Falls, spanning Assembly Districts 28, 29, 30, 67, 68, 75 and 92, as well as Senate District 23.
The first-ever GROWW Town Hall marked the public launch of a member-led legislative strategy that began with a year-long process of debating, refining and ratifying a statewide agenda centered on healthcare, housing, agriculture, public education, local control and economic security for regular people. The event brought candidates and community members together to discuss the agenda, identify opportunities for partnership and begin building the relationships necessary to advance legislation in the years ahead.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
WQOW: Western Wisconsinites demand state action to protect family farms, rural communities
Tuesday morning, dozens of western Wisconsin farmers gathered to raise awareness about the impacts of a controversial factory farm expansion project.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Residents speak out against expansion of Western Wisconsin factory farm
Residents are speaking out against the expansion of a factory farm in Western Wisconsin.
Tuesday, people could be seen with signs saying, “people over profit” and “small farms not factory farms” in front of the state Department of Administration building on Clairemont Avenue in Eau Claire.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Western Wisconsin Residents Continue Fighting CAFO Expansion
Pierce County residents and GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin officially challenged that permit by filing for a contested case hearing nearly a year ago. Many expressed environmental concerns about the expansion, specifically over manure spread and groundwater contamination. They’ve also expressed more broad concerns about how the expansion of the CAFO, or concentrated animal feeding operation, would impact the ability of smaller farms to remain competitive.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Western Wisconsin residents try to turn back a massive factory farm’s DNR permit
“Whether it’s a data center coming into your community, or a massive factory farm like Ridge Breeze, everyday people need to continue to stand together, organize and create greater change that will protect and put the power back into the hands of regular people,” Danny Akenson, an organizer with Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin, said at a news conference before the hearing.
Akenson told the Wisconsin Examiner that it’s no surprise that people of “all political stripes” are seeking basic protections for their communities against corporate extraction.
“The reality is that rural America — and really communities of all different sizes, rural, urban, suburban — are standing up against massive corporate overreach and the extraction of wealth from their communities into the pockets of shareholders and investors,” he said.
GRO-WW has been heavily involved in the fight against Ridge Breeze and against the growing popularity of factory farms across western Wisconsin. The organization helped connect the plaintiffs in the contested case with attorneys from Midwest Environmental Advocates to dispute the permit decision.
Their petition against the permit asks that at the very least it be modified to make sure the DNR is monitoring the local water so the farm is held accountable if the state’s groundwater pollution rules are violated.
- Rural Wisconsin vs. Corporate Ag
Ridge Breeze Legal Hearing: Here’s what to know
The legal battle to stop the proposed Ridge Breeze expansion to 6,500 cows will come to a head on Tuesday, March 3, when a contested case hearing opens in Eau Claire.
The first day of the hearing will be for public testimony, during which area residents and business owners will be able to provide comments about the expansion’s threat to their water and the environment.