(Iowa News Service) – Family farm advocates are calling for cuts in federal subsidies to large animal feeding operations known as CAFOs in the Farm Bill being debated in Congress. Iowa family farmers want more support for conservation programs that benefit smaller agriculture operations. Right now, CAFOs can qualify for as much as 100-million dollars every year to reduce some of the environmental damage they can cause. That’s taxpayer money that Barb Kalbach, a fourth-generation family farmer in Adair County, says could be put to much better use by small family farmers on their land.

CAFO operators contend they use the federal money to defend against environmental damage and that they’re always looking for cleaner, safer ways to raise high-quality meats while responding to increased consumer demand.

As a board member for the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Kalbach is calling for more support of conservation programs that would help family farmers, but she is just as adamant that the long-standing rules governing CAFOs are changed.

The Farm Bill saw its first action in the House Agriculture Committee May 23rd. The House version of the measure also proposes 30-billion dollars in cuts to SNAP benefits over the next decade, including 170-million in Iowa.