Agenda - Planning Commission - 11/07/1996

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OCTOBER 1996 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Hog-Tied by Feedlots By Michael Barre;te Terry Spence spent a recent August evening working on his lawn. "Mowing the yard used to be a relaxing thing," he says, "but I was just out the~re tonight, and there wasn't much pleasure in it." His farm is near a large, two-year-old hog- confinement operation just outside Unionville, Missouri, that has transformed the commtmity. "We have 80,000 hogs within two miles of Unionville," he says. "Depending on the weather, the odor carries two to five miles. There is nowhere to go to get away from the smell." Spence says the odor itself is just the tip of the iceberg. "The fact is, hydrogen sulfide is a dangerous gas. Even when you get accustomed to the smell, yoo._still keep wondering about the effect of breathing in that ali'." What Is a CAFO? Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), the latest trend in hog farming, are corporate-owned or contracted facilities that aim to produce pork as efficiently and inexpensively as possible. Facilities usually house several thousand hogs, but operations in excess of 17,000' are not unusual. By comparison, the typical family farm usually has fewer than 500 hogs. CAFOs also differ from family-sized opera{ions in that the hogs are raised indoors in tightly packed swine houses, producing a much higher concentration of hogs per acre than most independent farms and a commensurate amount of manure. The waste is disposed by flushing it from the swine houses and collecting it in outdoor lagoons, the largest holding more than 30 million gallons of liquid animal waste. The waste is spread onsite or injected into the soil. Fescue or similar feed crops are then planted with the expectation that the soil and the crop will safely absorb the contents. CAFOs generally fall into two categories, corporate and contract operations. Corporate operations house the hogs at enormous company-owned facilitiei, where hogs are bred and fed a regimented diet until ready for slaughter. Contract operators are hired by the company to handle one aspect of the growth process. Hogs are shipped.in and fed until they attain a certain growth level following a strictly administered corporate plan. When the hogs reach a certain size, they are shipped to another contract operator, which handles that growth level. The pro~ess continues until the3, reach the market. The company supplies contract farmers with specially formulated grain, antibiotics, veterinary supplies, and other necessities. Farmers take the financial risk by building the necessary buildings and signing the contract. Many rural citizens have found themselves powerless to do anything about a CAFO being sited next door. Most agricultural states have legislated agricultural exemptions to protect family farms from zoning. Industrial hogging companies hide behind these exemptions, and communities cannot implement zoning until the state passes new legislation. Most major hogging states are hotly debating the regulation of CAFOs in their legislatures, with the corporate lobby actively participating. Even state farm bureaus, traditionally the advocate for independent farmers, have become dominated by industrial hoggers. The industry has repeatedly challenged attempts at home rule over CAFOs, and several important cases are pending across the country. The debate's volatility has not stopped rural citizens from trying to protect their homes. More communities are adopting comprehensive plans and zoning for the first time, hoping to discourage CAFO development or.expansion in spite of exemptions. It is important to note that these advocates include independent hog producers, rural citizens, merchants, and farmers who are trying to protect their ?ay of life from the detrimental effects of hog production at an unprecedented scale. Some jurisdictions in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and North Carolina have successfully avoided the agricultural land-use exemption by writing CAFO ordinances into their local health code or general ordinance. Because the legality of those approaches varies from state to state, this article simply describes the developmental impacts of CAFOs and presents th'e specific techniques being used to counter them. These ordinances usually distinguish family farms from commercial or industrial facilities. Specific language differentiates agriculture from feedlot operations or common farm buildings from typical CAFO buildings. Some also classify operations by size, described in terms of an animal unit (AU). Beef feeders usually set the standard of one AU. All other livestock is compared to that standard. Usually, 2.5 hogs equal one AU. From that point on, classification varies according to