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Manure is filled with nutrients, phosphorous and nitrates that provide fuel for the harmful algae blooms that lead to the dangerous cyanobacteria.

“The greater community still, unfortunately, has no idea of the scope of the current crisis,” he added.

Pam Taylor, however, is more than aware of it. Her family first came to Lenawee County to farm in 1837, the year Michigan became a state – and they are farming there still. Four years ago, after a career as a business teacher at Adrian High School, she began as a full-time volunteer for a group called the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan.

Most of what she does is to monitor and track the connections between waste products that come from CAFOs and Lake Erie. She doesn’t pretend it is glamorous. “We look at poop,” she said.

She and her colleagues hope to compile so much evidence that lawmakers will be forced to act. So far, she says, it has been frustrating. “The legislature has been horrible (but) the agricultural lobby has such a tremendous hold in Michigan at all levels of government,” she said.

Taylor added. “I am not against farmers making a living. And I think people should have the right to operate their own businesses.”

But she is convinced CAFOs couldn’t be economically viable without being artificially propped up.

“Without huge direct payments … and without subsidized crop insurance, CAFOs couldn’t stay in business,” she said.

Not only do they threaten Lake Erie, she said they “drive the smaller farmers who are practicing good animal husbandry and sustainable, diversified crop production out of business, because what they are doing isn’t subsidized.”