Agenda - Planning Commission - 11/07/1996

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contributions of CAFOs never measure up to their projections because_ they' never consider the displacement of local farmers. "Making more with less makes them profitable," he says, "so they ~splace jobs by their very nature. If you could have I0,000 pigs raised by a single individual at a corporate facility or raised by 50 farmers, there is no question that 50 farms are better for the lo~ql economy." The University of Minnesota Extension Service found that traditiPnal independent hog producers create three times as many local jbbs as their corporate counterparts. Small operations make 79 per_cent of their business expenditures locally compared with 49.5 percent for large-scale facilities. Virginia Polytechnic Institute compared the economic impact of 5,000 hogs raised by independent producers versus commercial operators and found that independent farmers produced 10 percent more permanent local jbbs, 20 percent more local retail spending, and 57 percent more !ocal per capita income. For~generadons, farming families have raised hogs in small quant!ties, calling them "mortgage lifters" because they have been a:stable investment that pays the bills even in hard times. The rise of commercial hogging has increased hog production but dramatically decreased the number of independent hog farmers. Last year, Iowa, the nation's largest producer, lost 12 percent of its hog farmers. In Missouri, 19 percent went out of busings; one-fourth were family farms with 100 to 500 hogs. Long-_term figures are even more telling. In 1982, Missouri raised 3.5 million hogs on 27,000 farms. Last year, the state produaed 3.6 million on 8,500 farms. The g~eatest impact may be the most difficult to measure. "There are also many costs that cannot be counted in a financial forecaSt," Thu says. "Social disruption is certainly one. The facilities are so controversial that people on opposite sides of the issue become enemies, even people who have known each other all thelr lives. I know of cases where people won't even talk to each other in church; where people cease doing business with certai~local people because of their opinions, and even cases where children are taunted in school." Rh°nda Perry believes industrial hogging concerns cultivate this disruption. "The corporations have learned that you can set the farmers against each other," she says. "It has taken the farmers a long time to realize what's happening and see that the people~that are putting them out of business are companies hidingbehind the family farm label." Thu says the emotional scars and widespread disillusionment chang~the nature ora community. "At the core of all this is the fundamental fear that there is nothing that people can do about Zonlng M~ew, isa monthly newsletter published by the American Planning Association. Subscript~ons are available for $50 (U.S.) and $65 (foreign). Frank S.~o, Executive Director; William R. Klein, Director of Research. Zoning N-ew$ is produced at APA~ Jim Schwab, Editor, Chris Burke, Fay Dolnick, Michelle~Gregory, Sanjay Jeer, Megan Lewis, Doug Martin, Marya Morris, Marry Roupe, Aaron Sh~effey, Laura Thompson, Reporters; Cynthia Cheski, Assistant Editor; Lisa Barton, Design and Production. Copyright ©1996 by American Planning Association, 122 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicagoc IL 6060?,. The American Planning A~sociation has headquarters offices at 1776 Massach~etts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036. All rights, reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the American Planning Association. Printed on recycled paper, including 50-70% recycled fiber and 10% postconsumer w~te. ~ what happens in their own backyard," he notes. "The total loss of control that people experience often changes their fundamental understanding of democracy." "When PSF moved in," Spence notes, "it was a quiet process. There was no public notice until the deal was cut and dried. You just kind of heard about it." Once local farmers realized what was happening, they organized a petition. "In about two hours one afternoon, we surveyed 156 voters out of the 250 people here. Half to three-quarters of those people objected to the siting. We presented ir to PSF, and they held a public meeting. One hundred people showed up to oppose PSF's plans. Right there at the meeting, PSF's chairman stood up and said, 'It's our decision. If we want to come, we'll come.' They thought they were welcome here because they had been invited by bankers and realtors who thought this was a good idea." Perry suggests that demoralization often marks the beginning ofarural community's decline into a company town. She fears that rural communities are being deskilled and underemployed. "These communities are loaded with people who have skills and knowledge which is paSsed from generation to generation," she says. "When those people are reduced to hosing out buildings and setting timers for feeders, these skills get lost. In the long term, it really takes away the sustainabilty of the community." If there is a.bright side, it is that communities are beginning to unite and organize. "One of the beneficial things that happen when people fig.hr this is that they discover that it is not about odor, it's not about pigs, or even about farming," says Thu. "It is about a whole constellation of issues that determine how we lead our lives. It is a cathartic, revelatory experience for some people. They are able to make the connection between their situation and larger issues, see how these issues are interrelated, and sometimes ei,en learn to understand or embrace an idea that they have alwa);s rejected." Terry Spence has found this to be true. His township is among the rural communities that have embraced zoning after years of opposing it. "Zoning has always been distrusted in rural parts because no one wants more regulations in our lives," he says. "But whe~ you look at the reality here, it's easy to see that zoning is to prote~t us, not to harm us. You've got to make plans and provide for the control of the situation before it occurs. Otherwise, by the time you realize you need zoning, it's too late, and they've set the.hook." : vt, GReports Site Planning for Urban Stream Protection Tom Schueler. Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 777N. Capitol St., Suite 300, Washington, DC20002. Decem- ber 1995. 232 pp. $35. This document, prepared by the Center for Watershed Protection for Metro Washington COG, is full of challenges to conventional zoning and land-use regulation techniques as they relate to the protection of water quality in urban areas. Population density and impervious surface cover are only loosely related, the report notes in a chapter on watershed-based zoning. Zoning's reliance on the former as its primary indicator thus can lead to perverse results in stream protection. The report includes numerous illustrations of new performance criteria and innovative solutions.