Below is a video taken by Vermont’s Ag Agency late last year, showing a Ben & Jerry’s “Caring Dairy” polluting the waterways less than a mile from Lake Champlain. And it comes at a time when Vermont taxpayers are facing a $2.3 billion water cleanup bill, nearly $10,000 from each and every Vermont household. While we fully support the efforts to adequately fund the cleanup, we strongly believe that any funding for cleaning up yesterday’s farm pollution needs to come with a plan to stop today’s farm pollution.
It only makes sense that if Vermont taxpayers are being called to cleanup the messes that our billion-dollar a-year dairy giants – Ben & Jerry’s and Cabot Creamery – are profiting from, we should also demand that the CAFO pollution stop now, by transitioning back to grass-based dairying. And if they won’t turn off the water-pollution spigot that is the backend of 100,000-plus confined cows, then they should be on the hook for all future cleanup costs.
