Challenging CAFOs requires making your voice heard.
This section features the voices of individuals who have experienced CAFO harms firsthand, worked alongside impacted communities, or otherwise taken action to drive change at the local, state, or federal level. Included are public comments, white papers, editorials, letters, and other written reflections, many of which offer invaluable personal insights into the harms caused by industrial animal agriculture and underscore the urgent need for stronger protections. While not all pieces are formally referenced, each has been reviewed by our CAFO-knowledgeable team and deemed credible and worthy of consideration.
We hope these writings inspire you to join us in using your voice to help build a just and humane farm and food system.
- Comprehensive Comment to US EPA on Changes Needed to Improve Regulation of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). December, 2024
- Air and Water Pollution in the Lower Yakima Valley - Who Pays? Friends of Toppenish Creek. January 2025
- CAFO sub-team writes Sierra Club’s Response to USEPA Request for Comment on Regulation of Animal Waste Air Emissions. February, 2024
- Michigan Chapter tells their environmental agency how to tighten regulation of animal factories (CAFOs) to reduce pollution of the state’s waters. August, 2025
- Sierra Club signs on to Earth Justice Letter urging USEPA to finalize new models that estimate air emissions from animal factories - The Club’s National Legal Office relied on our CAFO sub-team for document review. August, 2025
- Challenging CAFOs Using Zoning Ordinances and County Permitting - from the experience of Friends of Toppenish Creek in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. April, 2025
- A Guest Editorial and Deep Dive on the Environmental Risks and Misguided Economic Incentives Associated with So-Called Renewable Natural Gas (from Manure & Mixed-Waste Digesters). October, 2025
- Opinion: What’s not to like about the meat you eat? January, 2024