County-level model map shows location of CAFOs in Michigan; other states can be mapped by request

The Center for Food Safety has created a model county-level map of Michigan that includes information about concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs, also known as factory farms) in the state. The interactive map also includes tabs that reveal locations of schools, hospitals, watersheds, sub watersheds, lakes, rivers. Similar maps of other states can be created by contacting the website, states the Center for Food Safety. (Center for Food Safety map of Michigan: Orange circles are factory farms; black marks are schools.)

Almost all of the 75 factory farms in Michigan are located near waterways, Amanda Proscia reports for the Great Lakes Echo, a project of the journalism department at Michigan State University. "A 2013 Alma College study that found factory farms increase water pollution downriver of the operations. The nutrients found in high levels downriver of these large farms are the same nutrients linked to the harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie."

"The map includes the location and size of the factory farms and allows users to select layers such as: environmental violations, federal subsidies and nearby waterways," Proscia writes.