Iowa Livestock Produced 108M Tons of Manure Last Year

Iowa livestock produced 108M tons of manure last year

It's unsurprising that Iowa has a large number of animal feeding operations — as the nation's No. 1 pork producer, all of those hogs have to come from somewhere.

Researchers identify thousands more Iowa livestock facilities than state database shows

A typical pen format for swine in many Iowa animal feeding operations. (Photo by Kent Becker, United States Geological Survey)Iowa’s official database of animal feeding operations, which serves as the state’s primary regulatory inventory of livestock facilities, does not include thousands of facilities that researchers say contribute to the state’s growing manure burden and potential water pollution.  After spending about a year reviewing aerial…