As Greene County is on the verge of hitting triple digits in the number of hog confinements, it has become apparent that although the supervisors are willing to ask the legislature to review the master matrix, their request will come only after it’s blessed by the local Farm Bureau.
County zoning coordinator Chuck Wenthold reported to the supervisors at their March 18 meeting he has received notice of a construction permit application for two 2,496-head finishing buildings on 140th St east of B Ave in Section 20 of Cedar Township. Colin Brown submitted the application for Brown Pork Site.
It will be the 100th hog CAFO in the county.
Brown Pork Site scored 460 points on the master matrix. Click here to read the application and master matrix.
Wenthold also reported receiving notice of a permit application from Greene County Farm Bureau past president John McCormick to add a new 2,480-head finishing building to his existing facility on Highway 4 west of M Ave in Section 24 of Highland Township.
McCormick Pork Site 2 scored 515 points on the master matric. Click here to read the application and master matrix.
The supervisors will review the master matrices for both applications Monday, March 25, with Brown at 9 am and McCormick at 9:15. Public hearings will be held Monday, April 1, with Brown at 9 am and McCormick at 9:30.
Hog confinements have been discussed at each of the last three supervisors meetings.
The supervisors on Feb. 26 held a public hearing on an application for Bardole Finisher, a 4,999-head, two-unit CAFO in Section 5 of Washington Township. Permit applicants are Roy Bardole, his sons Tim and Peter Bardole, and his grandson Schyler Bardole.
Peter Bardole is on the board of supervisors. He was elected as a resident of Supervisor District 5, which is totally within the city of Jefferson. He’s also a former member of the Farm Bureau board.
At the public hearing, Dale Hanaman and his wife Nancy Hanaman, a cousin of Roy Bardole, asked the supervisors to pass a resolution asking the legislature to review the master matrix. Supervisor chair John Mur said he agreed the master matrix is due to be reviewed, and that the supervisors weren’t against “putting it on our agenda to put together a letter or something.”
There was heated discussion at the next meeting, March 4, as Farm Bureau members, including McCormick, argued against revising the matrix, saying that sending a letter to the legislature would “disparage” the livestock-farming constituents who didn’t deserve to have their elected officials join “livestock opponents” who were waging a “war against modern livestock farmers through bullying and badgering.”
Wenthold had prepared a resolution prior to the meeting that was very similar to a resolution passed by 19 counties that cited the “failings” of the master matrix. Supervisors Bardole and Muir said they didn’t think the master matrix has failed.
Nancy Hanaman returned to the March 11 meeting with another draft resolution that included no references to “failure” but instead mentioned “shortcomings” and “inadequacies” of the master matrix.
Muir again agreed with asking the legislature to consider updating the master matrix, and said about the revised resolution, “you’re not demanding anything that’s unreasonable in this document.”
But, Muir said then the supervisors wouldn’t move forward without discussing it with the Farm Bureau. He said open discussions should benefit everyone, and that “somebody should be looking at ways that both sides can feel like their voices are being heard and we still keep animal production a viable part of rural America and rural Iowa and rural Greene County.”
Dale and Nancy Hamanan were both at the March 18 meeting for an update on the status of a resolution. Muir said he liked the revised draft from March 11, but that personally, he was more comfortable sending a letter than a formal resolution.
“I know it might not be the avenue that you wanted, but I think it’s an opening, and an ability for us to make a comment,” Muir said.
He had second-hand information that State Sen Jerry Behn wants specific ways to change the matrix. Dale Hanaman told him of conversation at the Feb. 23 legislative forum where revising the master matrix was discussed. None of the supervisors attended the forum.
“I think a letter would communicate that we all see there are some updates that could be done to it, that should be done to it. I think the voice will be heard better if we have the involvement of everybody that’s concerned, the Farm Bureau and you guys,” Muir told Hanaman. “If we can do that together, it will mean more when we send a letter.”
Muir said that within the next month, a group would be called together to write a letter to submit to the legislature, “and say there are issues that need to be addressed, if for no other reason so people can go about their lives after they (the issues) have been addressed by the legislature.”
Muir has put former Farm Bureau board member and soon-to-be CAFO owner Peter Bardole in charge of gathering the group.
