WHAT IS A CAO?
 
 
 

The Federal and Pennsylvania State Governments have established two categories for animal farms based on their size and potential manure output:
 

• Concentrated Animal Operations are farms that contain at least 2 Animal Equivalent Units (AEU's) per acre of land upon which manure can be spread.  An AEU equals 1,000 pounds of live animal weight (approximately 1 Beef Cow, 0.7 Dairy Cows, 2.5 hogs, 55 turkeys, 100 laying hens, etc.).

• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's) are farms that have at least 1,000 AEU's or that are considered CAO's and have at least 301 AEU's, or discharge directly into a surface stream.

Why Should I Care If There Are CAO's In My Watershed?
 

Water Pollution
 
 

• Manure stored in on-site lagoons often leak into the local ground water supplies and streams.  Studies have found that the average manure lagoon leaks 1,354 gallons of liquid manure per acre per day.

• Liquid Manure seepage contains excessive amounts of phosphorous, nitrogen, and oxygen demanding waste.  Excessive levels of these nutrients causes streams the oxygen supplies in streams to decrease and eventually become eutrophic. Streams low in oxygen cannot support natural populations of macroinvertebrates, plants and fish.

• Also found in liquid manure are various pathogens such as E-coli, Salmonella and Cryptospiridium Parvum, all of which have been found to cause severe human health problems.

Odor
 

• CAO manure emits a very strong and foul odor that can be sensed miles from the farm location.  Studies have found manure odor to cause nausea, headaches, amplification of asthma and mental stress.

Economics and the Quality of Life
 

• All of the above-mentioned impacts of CAO's affect the quality of life for those communities in which such farms are located.  As quality of life decreases, fewer people and businesses may be attracted to the affected region, potentially lowering property values and hindering economic growth.

• Environmental clean-up expenses, as well as infrastructure costs such as road improvements due to CAO-related truck traffic, are passed on to local taxpayers.

• CAO's are part of a trend toward vertical integration of the farming industry whereby meat producers own all aspects of production from feed to farms to slaughter and packaging.  In this system, CAO's use little, if any, local labor or inputs to minimize costs, thus dropping market prices below those necessary to keep smaller, family farms in business.

Who Regulates CAO's and How?
 
 

• The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the 1993 Nutrient Management Act regulates CAO’s.  The Act requires all CAO's to develop and implement a professionally approved Nutrient Management Plan.  The plan is an outline of how the farm intends to manage its manure, whether it be by storing it in a lagoon and spreading it, or exporting it to other farms.

• The Federal Clean Water Act regulates CAFO’s.  They must obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit while developing and implementing Nutrient Management, Sediment and Erosion Control plans.  CAFO's with more than 1,000 AEU's must have their lagoon certified by a professional engineer.

• Local Conservation Districts and the DEP monitor both CAO’s and CAFO’s.   Government officials visit farms at least once each year.

Shermans Creek Case Study
 
 

• Our goal was to obtain information about possible CAO's and CAFO's in Shermans Creek Watershed in Perry County, Pennsylvania.

• The GIS map was created using a program called ArcView to create an image of Shermans Creek Watershed.

• The GIS map designates the approximate location of the CAO's and CAFO's that are found within Shermans Creek Watershed as designated by the State of Pennsylvania under the Nutrient Management Plan.

• Under the Pennsylvania Right to Know act all information about Nutrient Management Plans are available to the public by visiting the local Conservation District office.

• Along with the GIS map we made a spreadsheet that correlates the points on the map with information obtained from the nutrient management plans, such as, what type of operation it is, what township they are in, what the closest stream is, and how much manure is produced.

How Can I Learn More About CAO's?
 
 

Please visit the following web sites from which most of the information in this document is derived:
 

•  http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/watermgt/watermgt.htm
•  http://www.celdf.org/
•  http://www.factoryfarm.org/

The websites mentioned above have information on how you can prevent a factory farm from entering your township, as well as valuable kits to prevent CAO's from expanding.  More specifically, http://www.celdf.org/ and http://www.factoryfarm.org/ contain the most useful information on ways to prevent CAFO's and CAO's from coming into your town.