By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The wait for an Allen County family to get the final clearance to add a hog operation to their farm will continue into the new year.
Doug and Janet Bradtmueller, who farm in southeastern Allen County, applied over the summer for a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permit for 4,000 hogs.
The permit was granted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), but during the 18-day waiting period following a permit’s approval, the process was delayed after neighbors filed an appeal.
The next scheduled status report between lawyers for the Bradtmuellers and the neighbors is Jan. 15, according to the state Office of Environmental Adjudication (OEA), which is working with both sides to resolve the issue.
A CAFO is defined as any animal feeding operation engaged in the confined feeding of livestock over a certain number, depending on the type of livestock. For swine over 55 pounds, a farm with at least 2,500 hogs is considered a CAFO.
A Confined Feeding Operation (CFO) designation applies to farms with fewer animals. A farm with at least 600 swine, for example, would be considered a CFO.
There are six IDEM regulated CAFO livestock operations in Allen County, said Greg Slipher, livestock development specialist for the Indiana Farm Bureau. There are 16 CFOs, he said.
Together, they total 60,000 chickens, 51,646 swine, 1,149 beef and veal, and 1,091 dairy, Slipher said. The data is through early September.
The county has been home to about 50,000 hogs each year since 1910, peaking at 82,992 in 1987 and declining slowly since that year, he said.
Doug Bradtmueller’s family has farmed more than 100 years on the land he and Janet now farm. The family used to raise hogs, but stopped in the early 1990s. They currently grow corn, soybeans and wheat.
“It was really too small of an operation, and our supplier stopped shipping hogs,” Doug said.
“We had another permit in 1997, but then the hog market went down and we decided not to do it.”
The couple started thinking again about establishing a feeder-to-finish hog operation a couple of years ago, and sent in the paperwork to IDEM this summer.
The Bradtmuellers said they were surprised their neighbors were upset over the permit.
“When we had the permit in 1997, there were no complaints,” Doug said. “We’re wondering why a lot of them are complaining now when they don’t understand and don’t know what they’re complaining about.
“We’re not trying to upset them. We’re just trying to make a living.”
The neighbors are concerned about how such a large operation would affect the quality of life for surrounding residents, said Charles Critchley, a spokesman for the neighbors’ effort.
“We’re concerned about air- and water-borne pollution,” he said. “If they spread manure and they time it wrong, and it rains within 24 hours, you can have runoff and contamination. There are also concerns with groundwater.”
Neighbors are also concerned about their property values, Critchley said.
“The odor plume from CAFOs can affect homes within a three-mile radius,” he said. “Homes close to (the farm) will lose all their value.”
Residents who live near the Bradtmueller farm are also concerned about developing respiratory problems, especially in those who are very young and very old, Critchley said.
IDEM doesn’t stop being involved once a permit is issued, said Amy Hartsock, public information officer for IDEM.
Agency officials visit a site once during the construction phase, and twice during the first year of operation, she said.
“The first visit is for compliance assistance,” she said. “We try to make sure they’re getting off on the right foot. We make sure they understand the performance standards.”
Another visit during the second six months is for a compliance evaluation, to see if there are any issues that need to be addressed, she said.
Inspectors re-visit sites on average once every five years, though reported complaints or concerns will trigger an on-site visit sooner, Hartsock said.
The Bradtmueller’s hog barn will be constructed by Fort Recovery Construction & Equipment (FRCE), LLC, of Portland, Ind. The quad-style building will have four rooms of 1,000 hogs each, and is environmentally controlled, said Chad Towell, of FRCE.
The manure will be contained in a pit underneath, and will be properly ventilated, he said. The pit has exhaust fans that dissipate the smell, and has a years worth of storage capacity, he said.
When the manure pit needs to be emptied, the manure will be knifed into the ground, rather than sprayed, to avoid runoff, Doug said.
FRCE constructs 15 to 25 buildings of this type a year, Towell said.
“We’ve had some complaints at other sites, before the buildings were up,” he said. “But once the buildings are up and neighbors see how it is, the complaints stopped.
“We want to build these things right,” he said. “We don’t cut corners.”
The best way to keep appeals and problems with neighbors to a minimum is through communication, Slipher said.
“It’s about relationships,” he said. “It’s important to try to have good relationships with your neighbors. The biggest concern many of them have is based on the unknown.
“There’s a misconception that we mismanage the manure,” he said. “The assumption is that farmers will mismanage.”
The overwhelming majority of applications for CAFO permits don’t end up involving the OEA, Slipher said.
“People should realize that technology has allowed us to put a larger amount of animals in smaller places,” he said. “And this also allows us to keep more of our young people in farming.”
If the Bradtmuellers and their neighbors can’t settle their differences, there will eventually be a hearing in front of Mary Davidsen, OEA’s chief environmental law judge, Davidsen said.
During the hearing, the judge looks at IDEM regulations to be sure they were followed in granting the permit, she said.
OEA is not associated with IDEM and is a separate state agency, Davidsen said. They are a part of the state’s executive branch and independent from policy and political forums. |
