CHILLICOTHE, Mo. 鈥 North of town, near the planned site of a massive hog farming operation, yard signs reading 鈥渇arms not factories鈥 are staked all over, demonstrating a strong level of opposition to a project that is on track for state approval.
A group of Livingston County residents, calling themselves Friends of Poosey, after the local conservation area, has organized against United Hog Systems鈥 planned 10,500-pig concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. They contend the facility鈥檚 air emissions and pig waste would destroy the landscape. United Hog says the concerns are unfounded.
Similar conflicts are playing out elsewhere in rural Missouri, where many residents are fighting against big agriculture operations looking to expand their footprint in the state.
In the corner of meat producers is Gov. Mike Parson, who last year signed Senate Bill 391, a law nullifying about 20 county health ordinances 鈥 including Livingston County鈥檚 鈥 that had worked to keep out large CAFOs.
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The local rules required adherence to strict environmental standards that companies didn鈥檛 have to meet elsewhere, which for years steered intensive farming operations to other counties. But no more.
Proponents of Senate Bill 391 said the local rules slowed adoption of modern agriculture techniques, which require housing thousands of animals under the same roof in order to maximize productivity to feed a growing human population.
That is what worries Doug Doughty, 62, who has a small beef cow herd and grows corn, soybeans and hay on a nearby farm.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 your typical family farm, where grandpa had 10 sows on one place and 20 sows on another,鈥 he said of the proposed facility. 鈥淭hese are confined. And, you know, it鈥檚 big. It鈥檚 really big.鈥
鈥淭hose animals don鈥檛 have any daylight,鈥 Bert Wire, 43, who lives an estimated 2,500 feet from United Hog鈥檚 proposed site, said of modern-day CAFOs. 鈥淭he animal needs so much 鈥 I call it vitamin D.鈥
A boat rests on Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Upping the stakes here, residents say, is the 6,000-acre Poosey Conservation Area, about three miles from the site of the proposed CAFO. The land draws anglers, hikers and hunters from all over the country.
Though liquified manure to be applied at least 50 feet from a property boundary, residents still worry that the effects of the CAFO will discourage visitors and reduce property values.
Joe Jerek, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the agency hasn鈥檛 weighed in on the possible effects of the CAFO on public land nearby.
But it鈥檚 not unprecedented for agencies to comment on decisions that affect state land. In 2013, as the city of Columbia was weighing approval of a subdivision next to Rock Bridge State Park, a Department of Natural Resources official spoke out against the plan at a city planning and zoning commission meeting.
At the time, the DNR was led by . Pauley is now the director of the Department of Conservation.
Growing ambitions
United Hog鈥檚 growing ambitions haven鈥檛 quelled concerns.
Since winning a permit from the Department of Natural Resources in May, the company 鈥渉as decided to build a larger sow farm at the same location,鈥 according to a Sept. 9 letter a United Hog Systems attorney sent to site neighbors.
Robert Brundage, an attorney for the Marshall, Missouri-based United Hog, said only that the company鈥檚 move was a business decision.
The company鈥檚 old application said its facility would produce 3.6 million gallons of waste per year.
The company is now seeking approval for a facility that would generate 8.3 million gallons of waste per year 鈥 or 22,700 gallons per day. The facility includes three large buildings to house pigs as well as a 50-foot-by-80-foot composting barn for dead pigs.
Waste from live pigs will fall through the grated floor of a barn larger than two football fields and into an underground pit. Manure will be tanked or pumped onto local farm fields as fertilizer, according to the company鈥檚 state application.
Close to the site, last Tuesday, yard signs opposing the project outnumbered lingering signs supporting President Donald Trump; voters in Livingston County broke 78% in support of Trump in this month鈥檚 election.
A truck roars by a yard sign decrying concentrated animal feeding operations near Chillicothe, Mo., on Nov. 17.
Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Voters here, despite Parson signing the controversial law, also supported the Republican governor in similar numbers.
Susan Fair, 70, who moved back to Livingston County in 2014 and lives on land near the conservation area, said the neighbors鈥 group has drawn supporters of all political persuasions.
鈥淎 lot of us have, you know, differing political backgrounds,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e making friends on both sides, Democrats and Republicans, and we鈥檙e working on issues.鈥
Shallow groundwater?
Brundage, the United Hog lawyer, said Livingston County鈥檚 health ordinance, in place since the 1990s, made it 鈥渋mpractical鈥 to operate a CAFO there. The passage of Senate Bill 391 changed that, but that didn鈥檛 mean there are no environmental standards, he said.
State regulations 鈥 which are less stringent than the local rules 鈥 are 鈥渄esigned to be protective of the environment,鈥 he said.
鈥淒NR is issuing a permit in accordance with their regulations,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat should give the citizens in Livingston County comfort that this facility will not pollute the environment.鈥
Wire is not among those who take comfort in the company assurances. He expects his property value to drop if the facility is built.
鈥淭his is my retirement, my investment, this is my 401(k),鈥 he said. 鈥淚f I go to the nursing home, I might have to sell this. Or if my wife gets sick, might have to sell it.鈥
Wire, down the hill from his farm, pointed to an oxbow on the Thompson River. In the spring of 2019, he said the river swelled, eating portions of a county road that remains closed after falling into the river.
The river is about two-thirds of a mile from the planned CAFO, according to state documents.
Stephen Jeffery, an attorney for the neighbors group, said holes drilled on the United Hog property in March found shallow groundwater just feet from the ground surface, indicating trouble when the company constructs its 12-foot-deep manure pit, he said.
Brundage shared a report from a Department of Natural Resources geologist that said crews dug three pits in June and didn鈥檛 encounter any water.
鈥淏ased on the topography and characteristics of the bedrock and surficial material, any shallow groundwater encountered at the barn site is expected to be temporarily perched groundwater,鈥 Jeremiah Jackson, a state geologist, wrote. 鈥淎 breach or failure of the engineered construction of the proposed concrete pit is expected to have minimal impacts to groundwater.鈥
Jeffery said the DNR report didn鈥檛 explain away photos of shallow groundwater from the March drilling, and he said the state鈥檚 search for groundwater was inadequate.
鈥淎ll it showed was that there was no shallow groundwater where they dug their holes,鈥 Jeffery said.
鈥淎 picture鈥檚 worth 1,000 words,鈥 he said of the March photos. 鈥淵ou see the holes, and they have water in them.鈥
Governor won't issue COVID-19 mask mandate, but he signed bill that overruled local control on public health matters.聽
Photos: Chillicothe residents fight back against hog farm
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
A boat rests on Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
A truck roars by a yard sign decrying concentrated animal feeding operations near Chillicothe, Mo., on Nov. 17.
Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
Bill Gardner casts a line into Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Gardner, like other area residents, is worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
A pair of fishermen prepare to cast their lines into Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
The house Bert Wire built with his own hands near Chillicothe, Mo. sits 2,500 feet from the planned location of a proposed CAFO, approximately by the grain silos in the top right on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Wire is worried about the smell from the facility and what it will do to his property values. "I might as well just give it away, no one will want to move in," Wire says. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
"We'll throw him back in, let him grow more," says Bill Gardner as he reels in a fish at Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Gardner, like other area residents, is worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
From front, Bert Wire, Susan Fair, and Doug Doughty, three of the people leading the fight against the proposed CAFO, walk along a path at Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
"Places like this connect people to the outdoors," says Doug Doughty, a local farmer and one of the people leading the fight against the proposed CAFO, as he stands in the boat launch parking lot at Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
From left, Bert Wire, Susan Fair, and Doug Doughty, three of the people leading the fight against the proposed CAFO, stand in the boat launch parking lot at Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Chillicothe residents fight back on hog farm.
Susan Fair displays an article from the local paper, the Constitution-Tribune, while she stands in the boat launch parking lot at Indian Creek Lake in the Poosey Conservation Area near Chillicothe, Mo. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020.Fair's family has owned land in the area since the 1970's and she moved back with her husband to retire in the area in 2014. Area residents are worried that a proposed CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation, near the 5,863 acre conservation area will cause damage to the water and wildlife within. They are also worried about dropping property values and damage to town infrastructure due to an increase in heavy truck traffic. Photo by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Jack Suntrup • 573-556-6186 @JackSuntrup on Twitter jsuntrup@post-dispatch.com
