Pigs, Pigs and More Pigs in Wayne County
Well, as expected, the 8,000 hog CAFO was approved last Thursday by the Wayne County zoning board. The ordinance in Wayne County does not give the board much of a role to play.
It’s depressing, but it is coming. The parcel is in a agricultural area, but it is also near an area that has been pretty built up with residential lots: The area around Pottershop and Philomath Roads, for you locals. It will be interesting to see if there is any local political fallout from the county’s inability to control this type of growth.
In statewide news, Indiana’s hog numbers went up 2% last year , but some area lawmakers are pushing back on the Governor’s long-term pork plans:
In the Senate, Allen Paul (R-Richmond) has introduced a bill that would put a three-year moratorium on building any new CAFOs in the state. “We’re going to have to do something to give locals a chance to negotiate with the owners (of CAFOs),” Paul said
Public hearings are set this month on model rules for local regulation of large livestock farms says the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. The Indiana Land Resources Council hopes to craft ordinances for local officials to consider for regulating CAFO’s:
The public hearings are set for:•Wednesday, 7 p.m., at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds in Noblesville
•Thursday, 7 p.m., at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen
•Jan. 22, 7 p.m., at Scottsburg High School
I admit, I was too discouraged to follow-up with a post on the recent entry of a hog CAFO in my home county. I decided to catch up on my links today because I read Jean Harper’s recent post: The Pig Equation:
I have a new theory about the relative economic, social, and educational wellbeing of any given community. This wellbeing can be calculated in direct inverse proportion to the number of CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) in or proposed to be in any given community. That is: the worse off you are, the more CAFOs you will find. The CAFOs are not the cause — necessarily — of decline; they are, moreso, the symptom.
A good writer can inspire.
