10/09/2025
Gordon Watkins on How the Country's First National River Was Protected from CAFOs - Oct. 16 JFAN Annual Meeting
Plus Dr. Chris Jones on a progressive food and farm platform for Iowa
Imagine a state that works with a community to shut down a large CAFO then establish a permanent moratorium in a valued watershed.
Crazy pipe dream?
This actually happened in Arkansas in the Buffalo National River watershed. On Thursday, October 16 you’ll hear the whole story during the JFAN Annual Meeting STOP THE CAFOS: How the Buffalo National River Did It (And how Iowa could do better), beginning at 7:00 pm via Zoom. Registration at bit.ly/4pSGR3j
Gordon Watkins, Co-founder and President of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, will unfold the inspiring story of how the local and broader community came together to oppose C&H Hogs, a 6500-head hog factory farm permitted in 2012. C&H Hogs was built in the watershed of country’s first national river. Its 2.5 million gallons of manure per year threatened the recreational opportunities and aesthetics of this valued resource.
The community’s outreach and perseverance over a 12-year period drew a wide range of allies working to protect the scenic 135-mile Buffalo National River, a major tourist destination and economic driver in Newton County, Arkansas, where C&H Hogs was located.
Watkins will describe how this coalition came together and, through legal actions, public publicity advocacy, public education, and other means, how it pushed the Hutchinson administration to close the CAFO and enact a temporary moratorium in 2019. Its continued efforts resulted in the Sanders administration recently declaring the moratorium permanent.
And then we have Iowa. Could something like that ever happen here?
It could if water quality advocate Dr. Chris Jones had his way. Jones knows all too well how Iowa’s political system bends to the will of agribusiness to the detriment of water quality and public health. He will first provide an overview of why it’s so difficult getting the Iowa state legislators to properly regulate CAFOs and protect water quality.
But Jones recently developed a comprehensive vision for a progressive food and farm policy that could start to heal the land and better protect water quality and the health of Iowans. He’ll share this vision, providing a roadmap of how we can improve the state’s circumstances.
Coming out of a summer where Iowa’s water quality received prominent attention in the state – even nationally – Jones’s policy recommendations come at an opportune time. Could Iowans pair that vision with the kind of grit that made Arkansans’ advocacy so successful?
About Our Speakers:
Gordon Watkins has lived in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas since 1973 where he and his wife, Susan, operate an organic farm and a tourism business catering to visitors to the Buffalo National River.
In 2013, Gordon helped co-found and is current president of the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance (BRWA). BRWA currently has over 3,000 supporters and over 20,000 online followers and, through legal actions, public policy advocacy, public education and other means, succeeded in permanently closing the CAFO in 2019 and, in 2025, secured a permanent moratorium prohibiting any future swine CAFO permits in the Buffalo River watershed.
BRWA continues to monitor and address other threats to the Buffalo National River.
Dr. Chris Jones is a retired research engineer from the University of Iowa and former manager of the Iowa Water Quality Information System that provides real-time monitoring and reporting of water quality data throughout the state. His former positions at the Des Moines Water Works Iowa Soybean Association gave him a bird’s eye view of how industrial agriculture impacts water quality.
Jones is the author of The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality, writes a popular Substack column also titled “The Swine Republic.” Jones is an avid water quality advocate and speaks frequently on Iowa’s water crisis throughout the state. Follow Dr. Jones at https://riverraccoon.substack.com/
The JFAN Annual Meeting is free; a $5 free-will donation helps JFAN protect Jefferson County’s quality of life. Registration at bit.ly/4pSGR3j Learn more at jfaniowa.org
For More Information Contact:
Diane Rosenberg, Executive Director, JFAN
641-919-5219
