The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "factory farms" ...
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The Cruelest Cuts
The investigation revealed how officials in the poultry industry have ignored and threatened injured workers as they created an illusion of safety inside their plants. The practice helped companies boost profits, but it has also jeopardized the health of thousands of poultry workers.
Tags: worker safety; Latino; poultry; OSHA; Raeford Farms; injury; factory
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Toxic Fumes, Blisters and Brain Damage
This story examines a link between the toxic fumes produced by the largest dairy farm in New York state, called Willet Dairy, and the health problems suffered by its neighbors.
Tags: toxic fumes; dairy industry; New York state; dairy farms; factory farms; cows
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Parrots in Peril
This package of stories exposed cruel and unsanitary conditions and practices in the parrot-breeding industry. A parrot breeding facility in Pierce County, Washington, had many birds that were dying of malnutrition, and the local humane society did not act despite having proof of cruelty. The story showed that substandard, giant factory farms are common in the pet bird industry, and that such conditions could lead to outbreaks of diseases such as avian flu.
Tags: animals; pets; parrots; birds; avian flu; humane society; animal cruelty; factory farms; breeding
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Raising a Stink: The Struggle over Factory Hog Farms in Nebraska
This book explores the environmental, cultural, political and economic themes surrounding the controversy over factory hog farms in Nebraska. It traces the history of hog production and analyzes the effects of factory farms.
Tags: BOOK
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Down on the factory; Cheap food, hidden costs
A Dayton Daily News investigation revealed that "the supersizing of livestock farming, while revolutionizing food production in America, has overrun regulators, caused untold harm to the environment and public health, created an uproar over the treatment of animals and squeezed many small farmers out of business. The series showed that the operators of large livestock farms can go years without facing inspections, must violate rules repeatedly to risk harsh penalties and are exempt from many environmental standards."
Tags: supersizing; farming; mega farms; livestock; animals; environmental; public health; regulators
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A will to read: One man's journey to literacy
Kiernan tells the story of Calvin Cottrell, who "left school before he was 10 years old and he left his family's farm in Arkansas at 21, with little more in his pocket than a $12 train ticket to Chicago and the love of a woman whose broad smile lit him up. Like millions of other African-Americans who moved North during the Great Migration, he fashioned a successful life out of the little he had. Worked in a factory. Bought a house. Raised three children. He navigated his world without the simplest of tools, just as thousands of others did, without the help of a street sign, a map or a menu. Now, with faltering eyes and ears and a body made weak by a stroke, Calvin Cottrell has set out to win back the education he was denied by discrimination and the harsh demands of his life. In his 60s, he is learning how to read and write."
Tags: Calvin Cottrell; learning to read; write; North; African-Americans; literacy; money; words; understanding; knowledge; quest; Chicago; Arkansas; poor; discrimination; education; school
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The New Farm Crisis
Corporate hog giants like Premium Standard Farms have flooded the market and sent pork prices plummeting. Many small farmers are driven out of business and then added to the PSF payroll as animal factory employees.
Tags: Employment
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Factory Farms: Profit at a Price
Because of an exemption in state law, corporate hog farms are allowed to operate in three counties in northern Missouri. They've brought economic gain, but also wrought environmental damage, and the organization charged with overseeing the, the Department of Natural Resources, Lacks the authority to force them to change their ways. An investigation of Premium Standard Farms, the third largest pork producer in the county, reveals that hog manure spills from their facilities continue to damage Missouri's waters.
Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT pigs livestock waste run-off
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The trouble with meat
Unfortunately, the grim reality of E. coli infection is not an isolated stain on the reputation of an otherwise hygenic American meat supply. E. coli, along with other meat-borne pathogens like Salmonella Ententidis and campylobacter, both found in poultry, can be traced to our highly productive "factory farms." Genetically "optimized" pigs, cattle, sheep, turkeys and chickens are raised in tightly packed confinement systems -- an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 12990)
U.S. News & World Report looks at how pig farming has gone high tech and is creating new pollution woes. Human waste or industrial discharges must be treated to federal or state clean water standards, but giant hog factories are regulated no differently than small farms, where waste rules are minimal. Last summer, hog wastes were blamed as the major cause of pollution that killed more than 10 million freshwater fish in North Carolina rivers. Wastes from big pig farms also threaten well water and surface water with parasites, bacteria and viruses. (Jan. 22, 1996)
Tags: Satchell Hog heaven and hell Pork Environment Meat production EPA Industrial farming 4 pgs.