Jenelle Ludwig Krause

Last week, with five other petitioners and GROWW (GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin), I filed a legal challenge, my first time going to court. I felt powerful. Together, we are forcing the DNR to take a second look at the permit they approved for the expansion of a factory farm in Pierce County called Ridge Breeze Dairy.

When I joined this legal action, I was representing hundreds of other ordinary people in Wisconsin standing together for our freedom to health, small thriving farms, and to clean water from our kitchen tap and in the rivers and lakes we jump into on hot summer days.

If allowed to move forward, Ridge Breeze’s proposed expansion from 1,700 to 6,500 cows would make it the largest factory farm in western Wisconsin, producing and hauling almost 80 million gallons of liquid waste a year. That is manure which would risk flowing into the water local people depend on and love, potentially poisoning us and destroying our roads in the process. More than that, factory farms like Ridge Breeze risk putting more of our family dairy farms out of business as they flood the market with huge volumes of milk.

Our legal action, which we filed with the help of nonprofit law firm Midwest Environmental Advocates, will likely put a pause on Ridge Breeze’s plan to expand to 6,500 cows and gives the DNR a chance to take a closer look at the discrepancies in the permit they previously approved.

But I have not always felt powerful in the face of big changes that could impact me and my community.

Decades ago, I moved to my little haven in the Wisconsin woods between the small towns of Spring Valley and Baldwin to be with my husband. One of the things that made this place precious to me was the delicious and crisp water from my tap, drawn from the aquifer just below our home.

When two neighbors pulled down our gravel driveway to let us know that a factory farm was going to expand just over a mile away, I was concerned. They showed us data on the possible impact to our water and air. Nitrate levels were likely to rise over time, increasing our chances of getting cancer. The expected toxic fumes in the air would be linked to an increased risk of depression. This shook me to my core. My mom has terminal blood cancer that may have been caused by DDT, a known carcinogen that was sprayed on the fields near the Wisconsin farm where she grew up. Depression is common in my family. We lost my brother to depression just eight years ago.

After that terrible news, I was determined. I investigated my options to protect my home and our community and learned quickly that, on my own, I had next to none. I felt powerless and isolated.

How the times change. Now, I’m one of hundreds of members of GROWW, and we’re not only challenging factory farm expansions like Ridge Breeze, we’re building power to create the change we need for everyone to live with dignity and have a voice in the decisions that impact us - no matter how much money we have or the color of our skin.

In the last year, over 3,000 people have worked together in GROWW to shape our world - passing an ordinance in Dunn County to allow for the construction of more small homes, electing folks to local offices who will faithfully represent the values of their constituents, not corporate interests. And to put guardrails on the operations of factory farms, we are passing operations ordinances at the township level. I see every day how regular people like you and me can courageously step up and build the community we want to live in and we want to leave behind for the next generation.

No one is coming to save us. Not locally and not nationally; sometimes, much the opposite with corporate interests extracting and abusing our resources to maximize their profits. That's why in western Wisconsin, in GROWW, we know we need to stand together and look out for each other.

We don't all look the same way, talk the same way, or vote the same way, but together we have the power to shape our local economy to make it work for us; to make our local government work for us. We all deserve the freedom to take care of our homes, our families, and our neighbors. And as we build power locally, our ability to shape our world also grows. Many of us are experiencing deep uncertainty and pain right now. Let’s use this moment to shape the world into a place where we can thrive. Join us.

To learn more, visit gro-ww.org