A month after being asked to adopt regulations for confined animal feeding operations, the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission Wednesday heard information supporting such operations in the county.
And a standing-room only crowd, the majority of which were in favor of CAFOs, were on hand to listen.
Kelly Heckaman, Purdue Extension educator for Kosciusko County, gave a detailed presentation on the current confined feeding operations and confined animal feeding operations in the county. She also chronicled the current restrictions and processes farms have to follow to operate in the state of Indiana.
Heckaman’s position as Extension educator formerly required her to sit on the plan commission. She still serves as a consultant for the commission’s technical committee.
Since the plan commission is a recommending body, no action was taken Wednesday concerning such operations.
Last month, Marjorie and Sharon Vance, Claypool, asked the plan commission to adopt certain regulations concerning CFOs and CAFOs.
CFOs and CAFOs are distinguished by the number of cows, pigs or chickens a farm may have on a property.
CAFOs have larger amounts and in turn have more restrictions.
Heckaman noted that there is an 89-page document farms have to follow to move in the direction of being permitted for a CAFO in Indiana.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is in charge of permitting, guiding and monitoring such operations.
Heckaman noted that as time has progressed, rules and regulations for such permitting has become more stringent.
There are currently 57 CFOs in Kosciusko County and 18 CAFOs.
In the past 10 years, there have been no complaints lodged against any of those operations in the county, according to Heckaman.
There are also five in the permitting process to either expand or develop.
“Those operations are owned by families that live in the county,” said Heckaman. “They are not outside corporate farming. They are owned by families who care about our environment and their animals.”
Heckaman noted that things like design, construction and manure management plans are required from the state before someone can move toward a feed operation.
Soil maps also have to be submitted and soil testing must take place.
Heckaman said that it’s inaccurate to say IDEM doesn’t enforce codes and in fact has become stricter about enforcement in recent years.
Heckaman said there are strict regulations regarding manure and how it’s handled and when it can be spread.
One issue brought up at last month’s plan commission meeting, as well as in numerous letters to the editor in the Times-Union, is that of odor.
Heckaman said Wednesday that she toured the largest dairy cow CAFO in Kosciusko County that day and noted that there was no smell and the barns were climate controlled, allowing the animals to avoid the heat and humidity outside.
Odor issues are not currently required to be addressed by feed operations in the state.
“It’s important for (the animals) though that there is high air quality,” said Heckaman.
Heckaman also addressed another issue that has been brought up by those against CAFOs: antibiotics.
Heckaman said that there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation regarding how farmers use antibiotics with animals.
“To say farmers use antibiotics as an everyday tool is incorrect,” said Heckaman, noting that overuse of antibiotics can lead to an animal’s resistance of them much in the same way as humans.
“Farmers do not pump them with antibiotics,” said Heckaman.
Heckaman also noted that many local farmers, especially those with CFOs and CAFOs, are exceedingly responsible when it comes to the well-being of their animals.
In that regard, Mike Veenhuizen, Lifestock Engineering Solutions engineer, also noted the state requires an action plan and accountability when it comes to the disposal of dead animals.
In fact, said Veenhuizen, the regulation and enforcement of rules regarding animal mortality in Indiana has spiked recently.
Farms who violate any regulation set forth by the state, said Veenhuizen, face fines up to $40,000 and the closure of their operations.
Both Heckaman and Veenhuizen said that there is no conflict of interest for IDEM in terms of permitting then enforcing regulations for CAFOs, and that new state and federal regulations have put more teeth into what such operations can and can’t do.
Heckaman also said CAFOs are responsible for weekly inspections, which they are required to log, and must provide things like a soil conservation plan.
“It’s a very detailed system they go through,” said Heckaman.
Plan commission member Larry Coplen asked about setback requirements for feed operations in relation to bodies of water.
The state currently requires contained building housing solid manure to be 100 feet from water while building housing liquid manure must be 300 feet away.
Veenhuizen, along with Heckaman, were the only people who spoke before the plan commission.
Veenhuizen wasn’t on the agenda, but John Goon with the Kosciusko County Farm Bureau was on the agenda and yielded his time to Veenhuizen.
A bone of contention for many against CAFOs is their use of water. Veenhuizen noted that one letter to the editor in the Times-Union said a CAFO could use as much as 80,000 gallons of water in a year.
Veenhuizen said that the state’s definition of high-water volume users is considered to be those operations that use 100,000 gallons a day.
The plan commission meeting Wednesday saw around 100 people in the audience.
Many in the audience were on hand to support the proposed CAFO from John Sands and sons. The local farmers based out of Silver Lake are in the process with IDEM and plan to build one in Silver Lake.
An e-mail chain as well as Facebook event was created to show “support for agriculture in Kosciusko County” and those invited were asked to attend Wednesday’s meeting.
The crux of the invite was to support family farming and strike against the idea that CFOs and CAFOs in Kosciusko County are corporate farming or done by interlopers from outside the area.
Those wanting to get more information on CAFOs will have an opportunity to ask representatives from IDEM questions at a one-on-one session scheduled for Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Warsaw Community Public Library.
The event is designed for people with questions to present them to IDEM representatives on a one-on-one basis and is not a public meeting.
