By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

GREENFIELD, Mo. — Talk that a large hog farm could be coming to Dade County was enough to get a controversial health ordinance passed by commissioners last week.

Presiding Commissioner Carl Beerly said rumors about a hog farm have been circulating for some time, but two weeks ago he decided to take action after more reports that a corporation may be acquiring options to buy 10,000 to 20,000 acres of land north of Lockwood.

Beerly said last week he did not know the name of the corporation.

Commissioners held a meeting Nov. 12 to discuss the health ordinance, presented it to the health department board on Nov. 15 and held a last-minute meeting at the courthouse Nov. 17 to vote. Commissioners unanimously approved the health ordinance 3-0.

The ordinance is the same as one adopted in Linn County, Mo.

Beerly said he chose that ordinance because it had already stood up in court challenges.

The ordinance requires strict handling of animal waste and establishes setbacks of one-quarter mile to one mile for different sized Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations from other CAFOs and from homes.

“I’ve never felt better about doing anything before in my whole life,” Beerly said of passing the ordinance.

“With these (CAFO) farms, everything leaves, nothing stays in the county. They have their own feed farms and all the property values go down for the surrounding houses.”

Beerly said he hopes the ordinance will discourage large animal farms from moving into Dade County, and even if they come, at least there are regulations in place.

The ordinance went into effect last week.

‘Knee-jerk’

“This is just a knee-jerk reaction to something that might happen,” said Brian Patton, a dairy farmer who lives north of Lockwood.

Patton doesn’t think passing a health ordinance for the purpose of keeping out large farms is an appropriate use of the ordinance. He thinks health ordinances should be for the express purpose of protecting public health, not regulating farming.

He also said his dairy operation houses about 650 cows and is considered a class 4 CAFO. According to Patton, his operation is in compliance with the new ordinance and grandfathered in under the law, but he worries about the future of his farm if his children want to expand the business someday.

“I’ve not heard a lot of good stuff about (health ordinances) for the practical side of farming,” he said. “We already have a structure in place with (the Missouri Department of Natural Resources) on the state level.”

But Mike Theurer, who lives near Lockwood, said the ordinance will help preserve the community he loves and the place where he is raising his children.

“I was concerned about my whole community and how it would change the town and the schools,” Theurer said of any large hog farm or other CAFO that might come to the area.

Pam Allen, administrator of the Dade County Health Department, said the health board approved the ordinance with a unanimous vote and that no one showed up at the Nov. 15 meeting to oppose the issue. Allen said the board passed the ordinance to support the commissioners.

Had to hurry

Theurer said despite some concerns from local farmers, 90 percent of the people who filled the court room on Nov. 17 and spilled out into the lawn, were in favor of passing the health ordinance.

The expedited schedule of events was necessary, Beerly said, to make sure work wouldn’t start on any hog farm before the ordinance was passed.

“It’s not like we were trying to push anything past people, we just had to get it done in a hurry because once they start, it’s too late,” Beerly said.

Patton thinks the ordinance will only hurt farmers already trying to make a living in Dade County, and said there isn’t a way to stop corporate farming no matter how many ordinances an area passes.

“I’ll be the first to admit if I had my choice the farms would be put in by somebody local, not a corporation, but they’re going to come regardless of what we do. This is America,” he said.

Patton, who also is a member of the Dade County University of Missouri Extension office, said the MU Extension Council had a meeting last week and decided to take a closer look at the new ordinance and its impact on local farmers.

If the panel thinks it causes more harm than good, Patton said the group will work to get the new ordinance rescinded.



Witch hunt

“This is like the Salem witch burning. People got scared and we ignored the science and picked up on an emotional, popular response.”

—Dade County farmer Brian Patton, a dairy farmer who lives north of Lockwood, in response to a health ordinance passed to regulate Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.