By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

GOLDEN CITY, Mo. — Darvin Bentlage, like his father before him, has farmed the rich land west of Golden City for decades. The family has been at it nearly 60 years.

But these days, when Bentlage gets in his truck to make the rounds of his 1,160-acre farm, he’s sees things he doesn’t like.

Despite local efforts to regulate them, hog CAFO’s — also known as confined- or concentrated-animal feeding operations — have arrived.

“They’re on every side of us now. Soon, we won’t be able to go outside and get a clean breath of fresh air,” he said. “That’s how they do it. That’s how they force people out and then get the land cheap to expand operations.”

His neighbor, Zach McGuire, sees it, too. He’s seen it before.

“My father had a hog and cattle farm near Tulsa (Okla.) The big hog CAFOs started coming in the late 1980s. They rallied the smaller farmers behind them at first, but those that weren’t large enough to accommodate the big feed trucks were basically forced out of business,” he said.

“The problem with Missouri is that it’s wide open for CAFOs. Missouri’s laws, when compared to other nearby states, permit far larger numbers of animals to be confined under one roof with little or no regulation,” he said.

“What these corporate farms can do with these small CAFOs, with just a few thousand animals, is put them right against their neighbor’s property line and drive them out to buy their land.”

Missouri proposals

A bill recently introduced by state Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, would give rural communities greater power to limit CAFOs near their property. House Bill 1931 would allow local residents to use the initiative-petition process to put approval of a proposed CAFO to a public vote.

Existing law only requires notification of those living within 4,500 feet of the proposed CAFO. Nor does the law require the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to take local opposition into account when reviewing a permit application.

Harris, who wants to be the Democratic nominee for Missouri attorney general, said, “This legislation will give the people forced to live with the smell, pollution and waste caused by a nearby CAFO a powerful voice in the licensing process.

“CAFOs ruin the property values of those who find themselves living next to one. Missouri must give local residents some of the power to decide where these corporate livestock factories are going to be allowed.”