Missouri bills would restrict CAFOs, subject them to local approval

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.”

Bentlage said the bill appears to be a step in the right direction, but he was concerned about whether Harris’ bill would cover both large and small CAFOs. Harris said his legislation would.

“Our intention when we drafted it was to be comprehensive and all encompassing. Regardless of their size, they would not be able to evade and avoid local control,” he said. “We want to make sure that they all play by the rules.”

State park buffer?

In the last legislative session, Harris sponsored House Bill 909, which would have prohibited CAFOs near state parks and historic sites. The bill would have created 5-mile buffers around state parks and historic sites. It was drafted in response to hog CAFOs proposed for construction near the Arrow Rock and Battle of Athens state historic sites, and a 65,600-chicken CAFO that has been constructed and is now operating within a mile or so of Roaring River State Park.

The bill, which Harris attempted but failed to connect as an amendment to six different pieces of farm and parks legislation last year, has been resubmitted again this year. House Bill No. 909 was supported by the Missouri Parks Advisory Board and the Missouri Rural Crisis Center.

House Bill No. 1931, meanwhile, is opposed by the Missouri Farm Bureau. The agency did not take a position on the buffer bill.

Leslie Holloway, director of state and local governmental affairs for the Farm Bureau, said Missouri’s existing regulations address the health and environmental concerns of CAFOs. Harris’ bill, she said, is not needed.

“We are not in favor of trying to put to a vote an application for a ranch or individual family-farm operation. We think the current permitting works. Making an individual farm or ranch petition subject to a vote of residents of the county seems to be totally contrary to the whole idea of local planning,” she said.

CAFOs or farms?

She also said that not all CAFOs are corporate CAFOs. Most of those in Missouri that are large enough to be permitted are family farms.

“We’re very concerned about taking this type of approach. This is essentially taking the issue out of the hands of those counties that have decided not to move forward with planning and zoning (for CAFOs).”

Opponents of the CAFOs near Golden City say the CAFOs are being misrepresented as family-farm operations when, in fact, they are extensions of a large corporation that will ship hogs raised there to a processing plant in Sully, Iowa.

Bentlage said the farms are structured so that one entity may own the land, another may own the buildings and another owns the hogs. In his case, Synergy LLC owns the hogs. Kenoma LLC owns the buildings and the land.

“The company that got the permit for the CAFO doesn’t even own the hogs,” he said.

Rhonda Perry, a livestock and grain farmer from Howard County and director of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, said her organization supports H.B. 1931.

“From a regulatory standpoint, CAFOs are defined by the number of animal units in confinement. They can be both family farms or corporate farms. But in most of the key Midwestern states where CAFOs have taken hold, the difference between whether they are a family farm or an extension of corporate agri-business is whether the farmer owns the livestock.

“If the farmer owns their livestock, they will not do anything that decreases the property values of their neighbors. They live in those communities. They don’t have the option,” she said. “We know that it matters who is raising those hogs and whether they are the owners of their hogs.”

CAFOs, she said, are often defined as the future of farming in Missouri.

“I can tell you right now that infringing on the property rights of others is not going to be the future of agriculture in our state. CAFOs cannot survive without infringing on the property rights of the rest of us,” she said. “Livestock has been produced for generations in this state. CAFOs have been around for 20 years.

“They can’t even come close to being environmentally sound or even close to being a good neighbor when compared to a real family farmer.”

Enhancing value?

Francis Forest, owner of Kenoma LLC, said the CAFOs near Golden City and Richland Township are operated by farmers who live there.

As for environmental concerns about the operation, Forest said, “We are permitted to operate by the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) under the laws of the DNR. There is no way in heck they will let us do something to damage the environment.”

Forest said waste water from the CAFO lagoons will be used once a year to irrigate farmland near the CAFO. Lagoons operated by the company, he said, are no-discharge lagoons.

As for the contention that traditional farmers are being forced from their land, he said, “To my knowledge, there has never been any kind of documentation to bear that out. A CAFO operation can actually enhance the land value.”

Forest said two contract farmers, John Bauer and Marcel Fischbacher, also live near the CAFOs they operate. They could not be reached for comment.

Local vote

McGuire and his neighbors in Richland Township, west of Golden City, already put their CAFO question to a vote. They attempted to control CAFOs at the township level by giving the township board the authority to regulate the numbers of animals in a CAFO.

The board unanimously voted to place the zoning issue on the ballot last fall. It was approved in a record turnout of 206 voters in the township. It was endorsed by 81 percent of the voters.

An injunction was filed by the board to stop construction of the hog CAFOs by Synergy LLC and Kenoma LLC, near the village of Kenoma, which locals now refer to as “Pig Town.”

Bruce Gardner, who serves on the board, said: “It was a record vote in favor. Nearly 82 percent of those who voted told us to pursue township zoning.”

But a judge, who was appointed to hear the case after the first judge recused himself, denied the injunction for reasons related to Missouri’s Sunshine Law. He essentially sided with the summary provided by the lawyers representing the companies, Gardner said.

Gardner said, “Their summary said we were trying to regulate the buildings, farm structures and lagoons, which a township cannot regulate. The township was trying to regulate the number of animal units and setback requirements, which a township can do.

“We knew these CAFOs would move right into our township and take over if we didn’t stop them, and that’s what has happened. We think we got the wrong end of the deal on this court decision.

“The township is appealing the judgment. We are still fighting,” said Gardner.

For Bentlage and his wife, Tish, the fight to save their way of life and the environment in which they live will continue. They are concerned that waste water from the hog farms will find its way into Pettis Creek, a tributary to the North Fork of the Spring River. They also fear waste water will find its way into a sinkhole near their farm and contaminate ground water.

Said Darvin Bentlage: “Farmers around here know they are stewards of the soil, the land and the water. They know they have to preserve it for the next generation.

“If 80 percent of your neighbors tell you don’t do it, you don’t do it. You respect your neighbors. That’s what real family farmers do.”

Buffer zones

Missouri is not the only state to attempt to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations near state parks and historic sites.

California recently approved a law creating a 2.5-mile buffer zone around a state historic park, prohibiting CAFOs in the zone, and Oklahoma has created a 3-mile buffer blocking hog farms from moving in near state parks and historic sites.

Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation

Home

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

A Missouri lawmaker has filed legislation that would allow Interstate 70 to be turned into a toll road allowing a private company to fix the interstate in exchange for tolls. Do you think this bill should pass?

Site Map

Contact Us