Posted on 09/28/2011 11:14:23 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MAGNOLIA, WI — John Adams can’t see the nearly 3,000 cows on the dairy farm two miles from his Wisconsin home, but when the wind blows he can smell them.
The stench gives him and his wife headaches. They blame the big farm for contaminating their air and polluting the groundwater well they use for drinking, bathing and watering their garden. They no longer feel safe eating the vegetables they grow.
Adams also blames the state, which requires local governments to grant permits to large farms that meet certain limited criteria, even if there are additional environmental concerns. The rural farming town where he lives tried to impose stricter rules, only to be overruled by the state agriculture department.
Adams and seven neighbors, along with the town of Magnolia, sued the state and the farm in the first case of its kind to reach a state supreme court and the result could set a precedent throughout the Midwest. Similar cases have been filed in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma, and two juries in Missouri have already handed out multimillion-dollar awards to homeowners who complained of intolerable odors from so-called factory farms.
At the same time, several states have passed or are considering laws that would make it easier for big farms to get permits. Lawmakers say the move creates uniformity, allowing farms to expand under predictable circumstances, and strengthens one of the few industries that didn’t tank in the recession.
Critics argue the laws deprive residents of a voice.
“A township should have the right to establish guidelines to keep its people safe, but it doesn’t,” said Adams, 61. “Those of us who are being affected, it’s like there’s nothing we can do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Which came first — the cattle or the complaining homeowner? Unless this is a really dirty farm, I can’t believe that these folks can smell the cattle from 2 miles.
My back property line adjoins a horse farm/riding stable, and I never smell anything.
You can find the farm very easily on Google Earth by searching on “Larson Acres, Wisconsin”. The property appears as neat as a pin. This isn’t about any legitimate concern with modern farming; this is about control. Who will decide how Americans farm: the farmers who invest their capital, and lives, in their business or government “experts” who couldn’t guess the number of teats on a cow if their lives depended on it?
Well, I hate to say it, but in Wisconsin the DNR tells the farmer how to farm. The state requires manure pits that limit run-off, etc. There are lots of requirements and restrictions. The government does pay for some of it. I know somone who operates the largest feed lot in WI and the state is always out there designing and redesigning his manure pit and feeding stations.
At least the jurisdiction of the DNR is uniform throughout the state and their regulations are transparent and subject to challenge. In this case, the Town arrogated to itself the authority to tell the Larson what crops they had to plant, where they could plant, when they could plant, when they could fertilize, ad nauseaum, to the finest points of crop management. If the municipal commissars are so expert in agriculture, they should risk their own capital and spend three generations building up a family business just as the Larsons have done.
Still, no point of source was established nor stated, only inferred by the city. The State apparently is not conducting testing or has tested and found nothing, otherwise they would have joined the city. In a case of this magnatude, I doubt the State EPA is not 100% aware of exactly what is going on.
If the farmer is not being responsible he will get caught. It is not too difficult to adequately treat 4000 cow manure runnoff in an onsite aeriated lagoon, just like human poop. Which would just be another cost of the business. Odor does not mean pollution.
Regarding the watershed itself, the surface aquifer region covers 4 states. In some places it flows to the Mississippi, and in other places it flows towards Michigan, in other places it would have gone toward Lake Michigan but somebody flipped the direction of the Chicago river.
To a degree being in a watershed has some meaning ~ yet to folks in that watershed that which happens downstream may be particularly meaningless. Where they pump their well water from is of far greater importance.
Regarding corn yield in Wisconsin, I'd like to say "ha ha ha ha ha ha" but I won't. They have areas where you can grow corn. They have other areas where you can't.
For recent projections take a look at: http://www.agricommodityprices.com/futures_prices.php?id=270
I know these guys are newcomers (at only 5 generations), but did we just lose two of them?
Heaven forfend!
Doc Michaels said you have to place an impermeable clay barrier UNDER IT.
Not so uniform. I have seen first hand the DNR prevent a homeowner from draining standing water off of their land and then turn a blind eye to a developer who wants to do the same.
It depends on who you are and whose palm is outstretched waiting for you to cross it with silver.
I grew up in farm country. I love those smells. They smell like money.
Well, cows range widely...
Those are the only two that actually beat out "down wind of a pulp mill" or "Eli Lilly on Sunday afternoon".
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