In October, Stone drove by the operation and saw what appeared to be manure resting atop the surface of a nearby field. He sent a photo to a friend and fellow northeast Iowa resident, who then sent the picture and a complaint to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The department wrote back, telling them it was \u201clegally permissible\u201d for the livestock facility to apply manure to the surface of fields without incorporating it, so long as the method was in Supreme Beef\u2019s nutrient management plan\u2014a form required by the state<\/a> for dictating how and where manure is distributed \u2014 and had been signed off on by the plan\u2019s reviewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although Supreme Beef is, according to the department, following the rules, those guidelines could be causing problems for Iowans and their water quality. A heavy rain event can wash the manure resting on fields elsewhere, clouding waterways and poisoning wildlife. The same goes for those living along the Mississippi River, as the waste travels downstream<\/a> to the Gulf of Mexico. Jared Walz, an owner of Supreme Beef, did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n And not everyone adheres to the rules. Illegal manure spills at livestock facilities or during transportation are a persistent problem in Iowa. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recorded 179 instances of manure discharge into waterways between 2013 and 2023, according to an analysis from environmental watchdog group Food & Water Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n The department \u2014 which is responsible for regulating thousands of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and their waste \u2014 could be doing much more, critics and researchers argue. Additional funding and oversight of where the manure goes and how it is applied, they note, could help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stone\u2019s concerns about manure over-application come amid Iowa\u2019s ongoing water quality crisis. The amount of manure in the state has increased along with the number of industrial animal farms. A 2018 study found that nitrogen from synthetic and manure-based fertilizer entering Iowa waterways rose nearly 50%<\/a> over a two-decade period.\u00a0<\/p>\n When soil microbes break down that nitrogen, the element links with oxygen to form nitrate. Exposure to nitrate pollution in drinking water is linked to a number of long-term health conditions, such as increased cancer risk in adults and acute life-threatening illnesses for children, including methemoglobinemia, also known as blue baby syndrome. Animal waste also contains pathogens such as E. coli that can lead to deadly disease outbreaks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manure management plans<\/a> are designed to limit pollution from overapplication of fertilizer in Iowa. The state requires livestock producers to denote the exact fields for manure spreading, and also demonstrate that the nutrients in the manure won\u2019t exceed the needs of crops. But review and enforcement of those plans is spotty<\/a>, and a closer look at the type of fines levied reveals why.<\/p>\n Sentient and Inside Climate News analyzed data from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2025, and found that the state has fined medium and large CAFO owners roughly $570,000 for violations related to manure management plans. But over half of these fines were for administrative violations rather than for illegal spills or other potential pollution events.\u00a0<\/p>\n Late plans accounted for $282,250 of the fines, and $47,250 were issued for hiring manure applicators with expired certifications.\u00a0<\/p>\n To fill the gap, residents serve as unofficial watchdogs, alerting the DNR to potential overapplication and manure spills. When Stone sees manure atop fields, he worries that rain will cause runoff into Bloody Run Creek and other waterways. The only way to tell would be for someone to investigate each complaint immediately after it occurs. Stone and other community members often take on that task, but it\u2019s too great a responsibility for just a few volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been some times when I said, \u2018Well, should I go take a water sample?\u2019\u201d Stone said, but he wonders what the point is, if \u201cnobody\u2019s going to pay any attention\u201d to what he finds.<\/p>\n In a statement, the department wrote that it maintains a 24\/7 hotline and responds to environmental complaints in a \u201ctimely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n How Iowa Manages its Manure\u00a0<\/p>\n Most manure produced by Iowa livestock is recycled as a high-quality fertilizer, enough to spread across one-third of the state\u2019s 13 million acres of nitrogen-hungry corn fields \u2014 an area the size of Massachusetts and Vermont combined.<\/p>\n Manure doesn\u2019t just contain the essential plant nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; it is also rich in microbial life and micronutrients that support plant growth and soil health, says Daniel Andersen, an Iowa State University researcher specializing in manure management and water quality.<\/p>\n But too much manure in any one field poses serious consequences for surrounding surface water quality, Andersen says. Nutrients not absorbed by plants leach into waterways through soil erosion and rainwater runoff, fueling nitrate pollution and algal blooms that deplete oxygen in the water.<\/p>\n Nitrate pollution has caused issues for municipal water utilities and private well owners<\/a> throughout the state. Half a million dollars in statewide fines over five years is minimal compared to the $1 million per year cost of nitrate removal<\/a> at the Des Moines Water Works, for example.\u00a0<\/p>\n The DNR animal feeding operations budget has remained stagnant despite growing concerns in the state over water pollution from manure. The budget has stalled at $1.32 million since 2016, while inflation eats away at its spending power and the number of CAFOs continues to grow<\/a>.<\/p>\n Few People in the Field\u00a0<\/p>\n While it is difficult to measure the actual cost of water pollution to Iowans\u2019 pocketbooks and health, Silvia Secchi, a natural resource economist at the University of Iowa, argues that the fines levied on violators are insufficient.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fines are incredibly low, and the probability of being caught is incredibly low\u2014and it\u2019s incredibly low because the DNR really doesn\u2019t monitor any of these applications,\u201d Secchi says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former DNR animal feeding operation coordinator Gene Tinker expressed similar concerns. He previously told Sentient and Inside Climate News<\/a> that the department does not collect records of where and how much manure is actually spread.<\/p>\n Secchi, who has researched water pollution in Iowa for 25 years, believes there are places where manure is over-applied, despite appearances on paper.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have anybody in the field. They just have somebody sitting in an office in Des Moines, and that person sees, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s late, so I\u2019m going to send the fine.\u2019 But there\u2019s nobody out there actually checking the congruence of the plan with the actual activities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Agents in the field might be able to trace a manure spill back to its source. But as it stands now, Secchi says, \u201cit might take them days\u201d to investigate.\u00a0<\/p>\n By that point, it\u2019s often too late. \u201cUnless there\u2019s been a fish kill, or some other clear manifestation of that inappropriate application,\u201d Secchi says, \u201cthere\u2019s nothing that can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Violations related to spills accounted for 25% of fines related to manure management plans from 2020-2025, with an average fine of just under $5,900.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some fines do include a fish kill fee, which can put the total amount owed to the agency over $30,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n This was the case for a manure spill at Roorda Dairy in Paullina, Iowa, a 4,200-head dairy cattle operation. The department determined that approximately 107,373 fish were killed as a result of the spill, triggering $27,913 in fines. Combined with investigation costs, Roorda ended up owing the department $30,791 plus an $8,000 administrative penalty.<\/p>\n But fines of this magnitude are the exception, not the rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if producers are caught overapplying or spilling manure in violation of the law, there is no guarantee they will be fined. Records indicate that two spills between 2020 and 2025 received no penalty at all, for example.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement, DNR officials wrote that manure spills that reach state waterways require a plan to ensure the spill does not happen again. Situations \u201cwhere there were no documented water quality violations or the manure entered a dry creek and the manure was removed\u201d may not result in an administrative or consent order, they wrote, which often includes a fine. In general, they wrote, the size of a fine is determined by \u201ceconomic benefit, gravity, and culpability,\u201d as outlined in state law.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\n Tinker believes the motivation to pursue late fees over other violations is clear: \u201cBecause a check comes in with them,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tinker points out that late fees are easy to track. It\u2019s a simple, clear-cut violation \u2014 either the plan is late or not \u2014 and it requires little staff effort to enforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n A late plan means the department is missing out on an immediate and straightforward revenue source. In contrast, revenue from a fish kill or another environmental violation does not go directly to the department<\/a>.<\/p>\n Better Education and Enforcement Could Help\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, the DNR, which oversees 8,000 CAFOs, no longer has a statewide coordinator for these industrial operations.<\/p>\n Many employees join the department because they care about the environment, Tinker says. They end up surprised to find that time spent in the field \u2014 documenting spills and environmental pollution \u2014 is limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tinker believes expanding overtime pay would allow employees to investigate more complaints outside of regular working hours.<\/p>\n Unannounced inspections could also help, Secchi and Stone say.\u00a0<\/p>\n When \u201ca friend calls and says, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m coming to your house for a visit,\u2019\u201d Stone says, the first thing he does is clean up the mess on the table. It makes sense that CAFO operators would do the same when they have notice.<\/p>\n DNA testing could also be used to identify the source of manure pollution, Secchi says. Treating manure applications \u201cas point sources of pollution\u201d would allow for stricter enforcement rules under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, she adds.<\/p>\n Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds cut funding for a state water sensor network in 2023, an important tool for monitoring water pollution<\/a> levels in Bloody Run Creek and other water bodies. Polk County<\/a>, the most populous county in the state, recently announced that it plans to foot the bill and continue sensor operations. On Dec. 8, 2025, nitrate in Bloody Run Creek measured at 20.7 milligrams per liter of water, the highest level detected by any sensor in the state that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n At a state Natural Resource Commission meeting in October, with DNR Director Kayla Lyon in attendance, Stone encouraged the state officials to drive by Supreme Beef to smell and see it themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n They said they didn\u2019t have time, Stone recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, keep your fingers crossed for the health of our water, I guess,\u201d Stone says.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.<\/p>\n Thank you,<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tContributor<\/p>\n Nina B. Elkadi is an editor-at-large at Sentient. Her investigative reporting explores corporate influence within the agricultural industry, the environmental impacts of factory farming and how negligence impacts consumers and workers. Her work also appears in National Geographic, Civil Eats, High Country News, Ambrook Research, JSTOR Daily, Barn Raiser and more. She splits her time between Washington, D.C. and her hometown of Iowa City.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tReporter, Iowa<\/p>\n Anika Jane Beamer covers the environment and climate change in Iowa, with a particular focus on water, soil and CAFOs. A lifelong Midwesterner, she writes about changing ecosystems from one of the most transformed landscapes on the continent. She holds a master\u2019s degree in science writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology and Spanish from Grinnell College. She is a former Outrider<\/a> Fellow at Inside Climate News and was named a Taylor-Blakeslee Graduate Fellow by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is a collaboration between Inside Climate News and Sentient Media. Over half a century ago, Larry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[203346,203347,192,203348,13014,188890,78278,79,282],"class_list":["post-427877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-cafo","tag-cafos","tag-environment","tag-factory-farms","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-department-of-natural-resources","tag-manure","tag-science","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Supreme-Beef-pumping-from-lagoon-RESIZED-1024x538.jpeg\"\/)
A Supreme Beef LLC facility and its manure storage lagoon near Monona, Iowa CREDIT: Larry Stone<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Elkadi-2024-Headshot-300x300.jpg\"\/)
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNina B. Elkadi\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Anika-Jane-Beamer-Headshot-300x300.jpg\"\/)
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAnika Jane Beamer\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n