CAFO’s: Two for Tuesday
New Holland’s 1,775 cow mega-dairy continues on without much notice. I talked about this proposal before (CAFO Call Out to Wells County), and now the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette notes that the IDEM public comment period is about to run, and urges folks to pay attention:
Mega-farms can play a role in economic development, especially in Indiana’s rural areas. But county leaders and environmental regulators need to pay close attention to where they allow mega-farms to locate. And residents need to hold those officials accountable for the responsible expansion of the agricultural industry.
Link.
Over in Randolph County, plans are moving forward with a pig CAFO (about 2,400 sows) to be located on old highway 36, just East of Lynn, Indiana. In fact, the reported location would bring it within about 2 miles of town, and the town’s water supply. The operation has it’s permit from IDEM (permit #6384, animal waste number 5523), under the name of Donald Leis (Idem’s permits pending site), and neighbors are reporting that a road has been cut and trees felled in preparation for construction.
Broadening the CAFO focus beyond Indiana for a second, check out a Recipe for Disposal, a page devoted to the proper composting of dead animals, another constant byproduct of a CAFO. The page references a survey of Pennsylvania dairymen, 40% of whom report disposing of dead animals in a “secret pile.” The site advocates for composting the departed animals. Environmental trend setter California has undertaken an intensive review of the impact CAFO’s pose to the local and state environment, and you can read up on some of the results of this broad study over here (the Confined Animal Facilities section start about a quarter down the page.
