AN ACRID AIR – 2,000,000 CHICKENS HEADED FOR JAY COUNTY

Imagine living beside a factory farm with 2,000,000 plus chickens.  That is what neighbors in Jay County are facing if an Ohio man has his way.  Keith Boeckman of Hoosier Pride Farms has applied for a permit through the Indiana Department of Non Environmental Management (IDEM) for a six-barn confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) at Indiana 67 and Jay County Road 850-E, near the state line.  Jay County is already home to 19 chicken farms that are state regulated, meaning they have more than 30,000 chickens.

Indiana’s little Napoleon – better known as Mitch Daniels – several years ago laid out a plan to lay waste to rural areas by ramping up the creation of confined/concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).  Daniels’ original focus was increasing pork production – not to benefit American consumers but to benefit overseas consumers in developing countries where income was increasing and enabling the buy-in to a higher meat-based diet. But it appears that any old CAFO will do when it comes to exploiting rural Indiana farmlands.

CAFOs house thousands and sometimes millions of animals.  Anyone who has ever lived near or dealt with a huge number of chickens knows how acrid the environment can be.  My great-grandfather had a small farm near Stilesville, Indiana, and I spent several times a year there when I was growing up.  I remember the old outhouse, the spring house, gathering wood with a horse-drawn sled, and an old cast-iron stove from which came many wonderful and tasty meals.

But he also had a long hen house, and each morning we would go out to gather eggs.  The roof was low, and my great-grandfather  had to hunch down to enter through the old wooden doorway.  The smell of ammonia would hit me in the face as I walked into the hen house.  My great-grandfather was always patient with me as I tried so hard to gather just one egg to please him.

The hens didn’t like me, and they sensed I was timid and afraid of their beaks.  Try as I might, I could not grab that egg before the chicken turned its evil eye on me and pecked my hand.  I would recoil in terror and refuse to try again.  My great-grandfather would laugh and say, “Girlie, they won’t hurt you.”  And then he would slide his suntanned, weathered, old hand under the hen and an egg would appear as he withdrew his cupped hand.

Now, back to the issue.  Imagine that acrid, ammonia smell – if you have ever experienced it – compounded millions of times.  Boeckman has assured the unwilling neighbors that the manure will be dried using “new technology” which will also eliminate swarms of flies.   Boeckman calls it a “state-of-the-art” system, but he doesn’t describe its features.  A CAFO is a CAFO is a CAFO.

Whether these monstrosities house hogs, cattle, or chickens is irrelevant.  They produce millions of pounds of manure which require disposal, they create toxic health conditions for the workers involved, and they create a suffocating and inhumane environment for the animals.

Chickens crowded together in a CAFO

DANIELS NEXT MOVE – DESTRUCTION OF INDIANA’S FORESTS

In 2005 the Dynamic Duo of Daniels and Skillman put out its “Possibilities Unbound” plan which sets out guidelines to the destruction of our state’s environment.  Here is that portion of the Plan of Destruction that deals with Indiana’s best opportunities:

Indiana’s best opportunities are in the hardwood, grains, oilseeds and pork sectors. The State must focus on maintaining and growing its market share in each of these sectors.
• Hardwoods. Indiana’s 4.3 million acres of high quality hardwood forests contribute significantly to the State’s economy. Indiana ranks first nationally in the manufacture of wood office furniture and forest-based businesses, which are the fourth largest manufacturing sector by employment in the State. Significant pressures from foreign competitors and significant untapped private wood lots create the need to find ways to maintain this strong position.
• Grains and oilseeds. Traditionally known for being a national leader in corn and soybean production, Indiana must continue to support the economic viability of these segments while at the same time develop new technologies and uses for these crops – a great example being biofuels.
• Pork. Indiana has a long tradition of pork production supported by skilled producers and a strong industry infrastructure. The State’s surplus corn and soybean meal production, abundant cropland and sufficient processing capacity make it ideally suited for pork industry growth. A lack of an industrywide focus or growth plan over the last decade has resulted in a 30% reduction in breeding herd inventories and a 20% decline in market hog inventories.

Well, good golly, the Guv and his henchwoman have already capitalized on the pork and grains part of the plan.  The rush to ethanol production has led to little benefit to the state, but that hasn’t stopped his Royal Highness from exploiting the opportunity and shoving it down our throats even though the ethanol factor has proved less than successful.

And, of course, we already know that the Dynamic Duo has made tremendous headway in the area of pork production.  Since the release of the Plan, hundreds of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have been approved and constructed leading to Indiana’s being well on its way to becoming one big hog farm with CAFOs popping up all over the state.

But now the two are taking after the state’s forests.  Recently, Indiana’s  Department of Natural Resources set in motion a survey – called an assessement (wording is everything) to inventory the state’s forests.  According to the website, the State Assessment will provide a valuable document for communicating forest-related issues, threats, and opportunities in the State of Indiana.

Photo Credit: USDA

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Photo Credit:  USDA

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Opportunities = code for “how the heck can we cut down as many trees as possible without anyone noticing.”  Additional code word = exploit.

What is really hard to understand is how Hoosiers simply sit back and relax and let this pompous and arrogant man march his way from state line to state line, destroying our environment in the process.

DANIELS REMOVES ENFORCEMENT UNIT OF THE INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Building on his reputation for being a friend of big business and a not-so-good friend of the environment,  Daniels has decided that the environmental management division can manage just fine without an enforcement division.  In his “Possibilities Unbound Plan” of 2005, one of the Guv’s goals was to make Indiana more business friendly by “streamlining” the regulatory process.  Meaning – get rid of as many regulations as possible.

Apparently he is starting with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) by closing its enforcement division.  The employees will be relocated into the air, land, and water departments where presumably they will continue to enforce regulations.  But the old adage of “out of sight – out of mind” certainly has the potential to apply to the workers and their efforts.

The truly sad thing is that Daniels simply doesn’t care.  After all IDEM is responsible for overseeing and issuing the Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permits, and his goal is to double pork production in the next few years.  Without the enforcement division, CAFO owners will not face the scrutiny needed to keep them in line.

Currently, all a potential CAFO owner has to do is send in a properly prepared application, and, bingo, it is approved.  Our legislature has done little to establish any standards for CAFOs and county officials are confused and befuddled when it comes to actually implanting some semblance of regulations to govern local CAFOs.  Without an enforcement division, CAFOs and their owners will have the CAFO-friendly business environemnt that they want and Daniels will continue to turn a blind eye to the damage CAFOs can cause – all to prop up his goal of increased pork production.

Photo Credit:  Google Images

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IDEM also is adopting new policies that narrow the definition of environmental harm and investigate only after the environmental damage has been done. State officials charged with protecting people from environmental law violations will instead be asking Hoosiers to prove they were harmed by such things as chemical spills, air pollution that exceeds permitted standards or animal feces flowing freely into state waterways.

Look for Daniels to increasingly back off on environmental regulatory compliance as he pushes and shoves his way toward making the state more “economically friendly” toward big business, in general, and CAFOs, in particular.

CAFO MANURE SPILL KILLS THOUSANDS OF FISH

The Little Mississinewa River near Union City, Indiana, will lose upward of 40,000 fish as a result of a manure spill from a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) hog operation. The spill, or more accurately a “wash-off”, occurred this past Monday.

Stateline Agri Incorporated – also known as Stateline Farms and Kremer Family Farms – applied 27,000 gallons of hog manure to a field about a mile south of Indiana 32. Heavy rains Monday washed that manure off the field and into a drainage tile into the river. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) will determine whether or not the manure was applied improperly, or if too much was applied to the non-planted field. The manure must be applied at an agronomic rate, or in a way so the nutrients that seep into the ground are minimal and don’t affect groundwater supplies.

The dead fish span about seven miles, while the pollutants in the river extend up to nine miles, and include areas both north and south of Union City, as well as through Harter Park, the city’s largest park.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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In the above picture, sows are confined in farrowing crates. The sows will have the piglets and will not be allowed to leave the crates until the piglets are weaned. Then, for the sows, it’s back to the breeding cycle where they will again be impregnated, have piglets, and start all over again, and again, and again. The sows will spend their lives in these cages where they barely have room to move.

Photo credit: Factory Farm

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The map above shows the number of CAFOs per state. Indiana is now in the group with the highest number of CAFOs. As I keep saying, you can thank our good ole guv for that. His and Skillman’s plans are to double pork production in the next few years. Looks like we will make it.

Photo credit: All-creatures – Manure run-off

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CAFOs are here to stay, but we have a choice and that choice is to take action and let our county officials know we want protection against these mega-farms. IDEM will only look at the CAFO application and the attached manure plan. If everything appears to be in order, it won’t make any difference what we say – the CAFO permit will be approved, and, bingo, another CAFO with thousands of animals appears.

Our path must be to go to our county officials to demand that they put some sensible regulations in place. Currently Allen County has no set-back regulations or any other regulations that govern CAFOs. Until counties take action, we will continue to see an explosion in CAFO permits and approvals,

Just what the governor wanted. And, it looks like he will get it because the public hasn’t quite grasped the dangerous nature of these factory farms.