Milk Factory
When cow numbers get into the thousands for a dairy farm, it’s no longer a dairy farm, it’s a birth of a new industry enterprise. It’s now a milk factory and I feel our laws and ordinances have not been able to keep up.
That’s the quote from St. Joseph County farmer Dean Carbiner in a story on WNDU 16 on the local reaction to plans to install a 3,500 head confined dairy operation near Lakeville, Indiana:
Right now, it’s solely up to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management if the proposed farm gets the go ahead.Carbiner, a member of St. Joseph County Quality of Life, explains, “We the people of St. Joseph County definitely need your help to protect our homes, our properties, roads, draining systems, and water systems and our supplies, and most of all, our families.”
Gene Graham, a St. Joseph County resident, says, “There are 41 homes within one mile of this proposed site who’s property values are at risk.”
The only thing county council members can do is listen and maybe change things for the future.
It’s because of the current permit process Schrock believes he’s caught in the controversy.
St. Joseph, like many rural Indiana counties, is realizing too late that intensive farming operations need the same level of planning that other industrial plants require to prevent negative impacts on the community.
Previously:
