CAFO Info: Grant & Randolph Counties
Friesian Meadows Dairy, LLC filed an application with IDEM on April 4, 2006, to open a 2,200 head dairy operations in Grant County. This is a Vreba-Hoff Dairy, and will be situated west of Van Buren. Of course, this has the neighbors concerned:
“We’ve lived out here for 15 years, and we’ve invested a lot of time and money in our home to make it nice and to be able to spend time outside. We’ve got woods, and we go mushroom hunting - it’s just country living, you know?” said Kim Marshall, who lives close to the proposed site near Grant County roads 300 North and 800 East. “There’s a possibility that this could cause us not to be able to enjoy our home outside.”
Of course, the dairy’s promoters claim there is no need to be concerned as they will be abiding by state environmental standards. And, of course, Grant County does not have any local CAFO regulations, so once the dairy gets its NPDES permit from IDEM, the county’s only role will be issuing the building permit. The set back in Grant county is 500 feet from residences and 1,000 feet from schools: far too close to be outside of a CAFO’s air and water “impact zone.” (see Race, Poverty, and Potential Exposure of Middle-School Students to Air Emissions from Confined Swine Feeding Operations, for instance).
Maybe the folks in Grant County should check out Grace Factory Farm’s Guide to Confronting a CAFO.
Read more about Grant County’s new dairy: What’s all the stink? (Chronicle-Tribune).
Over in Randolph County, where there have been 8 new CAFO applications since the middle of March, folks are gathering for an informational meeting with the plan commission and IDEM representatives at the Beeson Park Club House, May 16, 2006 at 7:00 P.M.
Finally, although not strictly a CAFO issue, as CAFOs play such a big role in food production, I want to note that Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, has a new book out aimed at kids: Chew On This : Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food. In the book, Schlosser targets 9 to 15 year olds, presenting information, but not preaching. His goal is to foster intelligent eaters.
