Karen Hudson will address conference in New York that will be webcast
February 8, 2011
Article by Terry Bibo – Available in Print Edition of the Peoria Journal Star
Elmwood—Polluted Air, Polluted water, Antibiotic resistant bacteria. These things can be “the invisible price tag of industrial agriculture,” acdording to Karen Hudson, the Elmwood- based sustainable farming activist.
People are beginning to open their eyes and see that’s not the kind of agriculture they want.” Hudson said Monday. “Our project is reclaiming agriculture.” As President of Dairy Education Alliance and FARM Families Against Rural Messes (FARM) Hudson will speak at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at TEDx Manhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” in New York City. The all-day conference will be webscast live at www.livestream.com/tedx. More than 60 viewing parties have been confirmed worldwide; a worldwide map is available at www.tedxmanhattan.org/.
TED is a 25 year old not -for -profit organization that “supports world changing ideas with multiple initiatives” through conferences that have featured speakers from Bill Gates to Sir Richard Branson. TEDx events are similar, self-organized events. The lead sponsor for this one is the Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming.
“We chose Karen Hudson to be a TEDx Manhattan speaker because she is one of the top anti-factory farm activists in this country,” said Diane Hatz, TEDx Glynwood co-founder and director, via email. “She not only is an expert n confinement facilities, she has first hand knowledge of what happens when one moves into an area.”
Hudson said a portion of her talk will focus on the way huge confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) can take a tremendous toll on the land and drive smaller-based farms out of business. In Elmwood, the manure lagoons breached in 2001 and caused one of hte state’s largest environmental disasters.
“My focus is that at all of these fafcilities manure becomes a liability, not a nutrient source for cropland,” Hudson said. “CAFO 101- that’s what happpened to us.”
Over the past ten yearsthe groups that have fought those factory farms have evolved into a 30- county coalition called Illinois Citizens for Clean Air and Water.
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Socially Responsible Agricultural Project
The Socially Responsible Agricultural Project educates the public about the problems caused by factory farms, works to help communities protect themselves from the devastating impacts of these facilities while, at the same time, providing help and guidance for those who are trying to reclaim agriculture by producing and marketing sustainable agricultural goods.