Rural Michigan may have a smaller population than Michigan’s urban areas, but viewed from another perspective, it is just as – if not more – densely populated. Rural Michigan has a hidden population that doesn’t play by the same rules as our human neighbors – especially when it comes to waste disposal.
Michigan’s livestock population numbers are in the millions, and, unlike humans, who have the benefit of septic and sanitary sewer systems, livestock manure and waste is trucked away and sprayed across fields and crops in the name of “fertilizer.”
The problem is, the amount of waste far exceeds what crops need, and what the soil can absorb. And the state of Michigan provides little oversight of this type of manure “field application,” leading to overspreading.
Livestock Equivalent Population
Human Population
When manure is spread onto a tile drained field, it infiltrates through the soil, enters the tile, and waits to be flushed out during a rain event. This carries harmful bacteria and excess nutrients into drainage ditches, which ultimately empty into streams and rivers. Excess nutrients feed algal blooms – some of which create toxins that are harmful to humans. Bacteria from livestock waste are also a problem. We most often see an excess of E. coli bacteria as a result of this type of pollution. An E. coli outbreak in produce is newsworthy enough to be covered by most major outlets, but there has been a near constant “outbreak” in local rivers – with little to no media attention.
The volume of livestock waste in Michigan is absolutely staggering, especially when we relate it to human amounts. Imagine living in a bucolic rural county with a population of just a few tens of thousands. Now imagine if the entire population of Houston, Texas – 2.5 million people – came to your county and did their business in the fields. Every day.
What would happen? Where would it go? And who would get sick?
But that’s the reality for people living in Huron County, and many other counties like it in Michigan. (And for a Michigan reference, Wayne County (Detroit), has an estimated population of 1.7 million people.)
FLOW worked with scientist Chris Jones to illustrate this population paradox and answer the question: if all of the livestock waste produced in each county was being produced by humans instead, how many humans would that take? The answers are striking.
Your quiet, clean countryside has been invaded by a hidden (but not odor-free) population of waste producing livestock neighbors. Take a look at how many extra humans-worth of waste is being produced in your county, relative to the actual human population:
Breaking down the map
There are some counties that are better than others in Michigan. The column on the right is the human population of that county. The column on the left is the livestock equivalent population, meaning how many humans it would take to generate the same amount of waste.
TLDR: There are dozens of counties where total excrement far outpaces the amount generated by the people who live there.
Livestock equiv. population Human population
It should be mentioned that of the counties with the least livestock waste, only Crawford, Roscommon, Wayne, Benzie, Kalkaska, and Manistee Counties are in the lower peninsula. Also, Wayne County, where Detroit is located, is also an outlier given the lack of farm land.
Livestock equiv. population Human population
Livestock equiv. population Human population
Take a look at Alcona County on the right, which has a total human population of 10,673; however, the number of additional waste added to the county by livestock is equivalent to nearly 5 times the current population. If you live in Alcona, this is like if nearly half the population of Bay County drove up and turned your yard into a toilet while you were at work.
Clare County and Iosco County have 4 times the amount of added waste relative to their human population. Livingston County is considered one of the fastest growing places in Michigan.
Livestock equiv. population Human population
These 36 counties are the most affected by livestock waste, with Allegan, Huron and Ottawa counties making the top three.
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, 8 of them have livestock equivalent populations in the millions – while only Wayne and Oakland have human populations greater than one million. This isn’t just a rural issue—it’s a statewide concern that impacts water quality, public health, and the future of our freshwater resources.
By visualizing livestock waste in human terms, we can begin to grasp the scale of the problem and why it demands urgent attention.
Clean water should not be a privilege tied to geography or media coverage. It’s time to hold factory farms accountable, advocate for smarter agricultural practices, and demand stronger protections for our streams, rivers, and Great Lakes.
The data is clear—now we need to act.
Livestock equiv. pop. Human pop.
Thank you for sharing this data and information.
How do we get this out to the general public?
Could there be a speaker panel that can visit our high schools and community college? Could The Alluvion host a community gathering like was done for Line 5?
More education is needed.
Could the local Ticker carry this article?
Bonnie, I think that is a great idea! I would love to see the Northern Express do a feature on this. Maybe a statewide paper like Michigan Advance or Bridge Michigan.