Farm Bureau study finds livestock farms environmentally sustainable

Livestock operations in Illinois are environmentally sustainable economic engines that keep young people from fleeing the state. Those broad pronouncements represent the main findings of what agriculture and trade group officials call the first-ever comprehensive review of livestock farms in Illinois and how they operate within the state’s regulatory framework.Lauren Lurkins, director of natural and environmental resources at the Illinois Farm Bureau, co-authored the Illinois Livestock Farms 2018 report in response to “undue criticism by a vocal minority.”“We need to keep people in Illinois, that’s our main goal,” Lurkins said. “We want people to know we have a robust regulatory environment and it’s effective.”Environmental and conservation groups, as well as individuals who have opposed specific livestock operations, have claimed that current regulations allow hazardous conditions that threaten the environment and neighbors of some livestock farms.