The meat industry is “behind the quiet destruction of the American Heartland” — strong words greeting us this morning from Washington, D.C., environmental group Mighty Earth. In the group’s recent report, it is playing the blame game by labeling Tyson Foods and other large agribusinesses — Smithfield, JBS, ADM and Cargill — for driving massive fertilizer runoff to the Gulf of Mexico.

“While there has been significant research into the vast environmental and public health impacts of the meat industry, there has been little exploration of who exactly is responsible. This investigation attempts to fill that gap by shedding light on the industries and specific companies driving meat’s environmental impact in America” — excerpt from Mighty Earth’s Mystery Meat II report.

As a person who has worked collaboratively on water quality issues for over a decade before joining the media world, I have read my share of reports, attended numerous meetings and participated in many hefty discussions on the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. As an advocate for farm drainage — particularly tile — in Illinois, I definitely heard it all and actually been at the center of the blame game.

So, here is how this argument goes:

The majority of the corn and soybeans grown in the United States is used for food animal production. Using mapping data, Mighty Earth links top meat companies to the region of the United States —Midwest — that raises the most corn and soybeans. Basically, Tyson and Smithfield are responsible for Gulf of Mexico dead zone just because the company has the most meat processing facilities located in the same geographic location as the large corn and soybean acreage. Obviously, livestock production is located in areas with local access to resources — land, feed and processing plants.

Although the story is told differently, it still comes down to the same non-point source decades-long debate — is nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agriculture fields causing the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and other water bodies?

Still, what is not being told?

The environment is important to farmers, ranchers and companies like Tyson. Essentially, Mighty Earth is just making it personal by naming names, grabbing attention for the real reason behind the report to scare consumers and ultimately end all meat production.