Counties want say over siting
of animal feed operations
Issues include environmental, public health, quality of life questions

Crowded hog pens, such as these on a farm in Sampson County, North Carolina, in the state's "hog belt," are cropping up across the country, and in the process challenging the noses of their neighbors and the nerves of local county officials. Photo by Robert Willett, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

It used to be part of Frank Pritchard's daily routine, to sniff the air outside his home and record "mild," "strong," or "very strong," on a sheet of paper titled "Hog Smell Log."

Odor is just one of the problems that comes with confining a large number of animals in one area. Others include water contamination, quality of life, and especially, what to do with the 100 million tons of waste created each year in the United States by confined farm animals.

It's especially difficult for some counties to do anything about the problems when they don't have zoning authority over large-scale hog farms the way they might over, say, industrial sites.

The problems are cropping up in counties around the country as the days of the family farm fall by the wayside. In their place: Large-scale livestock operations owned by national corporations.

Some describe it as the "Wal-Martization" of the livestock industry.

By the 1990s, contracting or vertical integration became the dominant modes of production. Marketing in the poultry, turkey, egg, and specialty crop markets and now, hog farming, are become increasingly common, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

USDA estimates that between 1970 and 1990, the share of all hogs produced either under contract or from vertically integrated operations expanded from 2 to 21 percent.

As a concerned citizen, Pritchard, a resident of Chatham County, N.C., was gathering the kind of grass-roots research that helps create local regulations to govern such operations.

Local regulation
Around the country, there is a patchwork quilt of state and local laws that influence the siting and monitoring of such large-scale operations. Of the counties in the top 10 hog-producing states, some have complete authority and others are fighting for it.

Iowa
In Iowa, the number one hog-producing state in the country, counties do not have zoning authority over such operations, according to Bob Mulqueen, public policy analyst, Iowa Association of Counties. "We've been struggling with this for five years."

The state's counties have zoning authority, but not over agricultural operations.

Right now, all eyes in the state are on Humboldt County. Last fall, its five commissioners (four of them hog farmers) unanimously approved four ordinances <www.salamander.com/~manyhogs/humboldt.html> related to hog farms, including:

• home-rule power
• monitoring of wells
• notification of the county board,
• and request for financial assurances/insurance for on-site and off-site cleanups

The ordinance stipulates that livestock operators fill out an application, with a blueprint of the building; a statement of manure management; a statement of the parties who will supervise the construction and operation of the structure; a statement of a plan for runoff management and identification of drainage areas.

The application is then forwarded to the county environmental protection officer, who checks for the application's accuracy. The officer notifies all property owners within a mile of the site and files the application for public review. All citizens then have 30 days to file comments. The environmental protection officer inspects the property and files a report. The board of supervisors then schedules a public hearing.

Iowa pork producers immediately took the county to court. A district court upheld three ordinances and part of the fourth; the part of the fourth ordinance that was not upheld related to setbacks (the distance between the farm or storage lagoons and other property or inhabited areas). The judge ruled that the setbacks were too closely related to zoning, which is controlled by the state. The pork producers appealed the decision. Now, the Humboldt County attorney will argue the case before the state Supreme Court Nov. 18.

Meanwhile, Humboldt County officials are traveling the state, visiting other counties interested in adopting similar ordinances.

A few other counties in Iowa, including Taylor and Clarke counties, have passed similar ordinances, but most are waiting to see what the state Supreme Court says before attempting to pass similar ordinances, Mulqueen said.

Will counties in Iowa ever see a statewide law pass giving them zoning authority over hog farms? "That's what we'd like to see," he said, "but frankly, our adversaries are very powerful. It's gotten very bitter - toe-to-toe, screaming matches bitter."

North Carolina
Much media attention has focused on North Carolina, the second largest hog-producing state, in recent years.

Two years ago, a 7.5-acre storage lagoon broke, dumping 25 million gallons of hog waste across crop fields, a rural highway and into the New River.

An estimated 5,000 fish died in the contaminated, algae-choked water. As a result of the spill, North Carolina Governor James Hunt ordered the state's environmental division to investigate large hog farm storage lagoons. The state found 109 that were discharging waste directly into streams and rivers, and 124 that were ready to burst they were so full.

In August, North Carolina passed sweeping, statewide environmental legislation tightening regulations of large-scale hog farms, including a two-year moratorium on them.

The law also gives new regulatory power to county commissioners to impose zoning rules on hog farms that contain 2,400 or more full-size hogs.

The legislation was passed after the state saw a boom in its hog farm industry. Since 1990, it had tripled, making it the fastest growing in the country. About 80 percent of all the hogs are raised on about 10 percent of the state's farms.

Chatham County, N.C.
Last March, before the state laws passed, the Chatham County Board of Health passed restrictions on large-scale farms (3,000 or more hogs), which it calls Intensive Livestock Operations, after a group of concerned homeowners came to county commissioners for help.

"Of course, the people, seeing the fish kills associated with high nitrogen and phosphorous content, naturally looked at the Intensive Livestock Operations that seemed to exacerbate the situation, and came to us," said Margaret Pollard, who chairs the county board of commissioners and is a member of the NACo Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee.

She is also a member of an Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored group that hopes to make recommendations to the agency on this issue in December.

"We said 'we have to take a look at what the hog waste is doing to our water and we have to do something now," she said.

But the county commissioners' hands were tied, since they had no zoning authority over farms. So the commissioners turned to the county board of health.

After two years of contentious hearings, new rules were adopted in March. The new county board of health rules include:

posting bonds to cover cleanup costs for lagoon spills; bonds can also be used if the business fails, so nearby water wells can be tested for contamination on a regular basis.

requirement of buffers of up to 5,500 feet between large hog operations and occupied buildings on adjacent land - the buffers begin at 2,500 feet for a farm with 3,000 hogs and increases by 1,000 feet, on up to 5,500 feet, for farms with more than 13,000 hogs.

there must be at least 500 feet between "sprayfields," the crops being fertilized where the waste is sprayed, and occupied buildings.

The county was sued by the county Agribusiness Council shortly after the rules were passed. Wayne Sherman, the county health director, said the rules are now being reconsidered.

Virginia: Next site for hog farms?
As North Carolina tightens its rules, its northern neighbor, Virginia, is now seeing an influx of large corporate hog farms. The state environmental quality department recently approved permits for big hog farms in Frederick and Pittsylvania counties. A recent hearing in Pittsylvania County went on until midnight after 80 people showed up.

Corporations are also thinking about building farms in Brunswick and Buckingham counties.

"A lot of people are very concerned there will be a migration to Virginia because of what happened in North Carolina," said Larry Land, Virginia Association of Counties. "Virginia opened itself up to this by amending its Right to Farm Act a few years ago."

When the act was amended, it stripped county officials of their right to grant permits for such farms. "For the past three years, everything was OK, up until the spring of '97," Land said. "Then all of a sudden, a number of companies initiated efforts to get permits. Now things are stirred up."

Brunswick County amended its zoning laws a few weeks ago, lengthening its setbacks - the space between the farms and other property - and requiring that storage lagoons be covered.

County officials immediately received a letter from a corporation that owns a hog operation in the county. "It amounts to a four- or five-page 'nastygram'," Land said.

Illinois
In Illinois, the third largest hog-producing state, the issue of corporate hog farms "is being debated as we speak," said Mike McCreery, executive director, United Counties Council of Illinois. The group's board met Oct. 27 on the issue. "We had a long discussion, but we ended up taking no position," McCreery said.

As in several other states, the county zoning authority in Illinois excludes agriculture. The counties would like to find a solution, McCreery said, but are uncertain how to find one.

"It's in turmoil here," he said. "We've got a large influx [of hog farms]. We have the same problems as other states: setbacks, odor, quality of water, siting near residential areas."

The state legislative session may find a solution. But some Illinois counties are striking out on their own. One of them is Wayne County.

Minnesota
In Minnesota, counties have significant authority over zoning of hog farms. Counties have authority, through two different sets of state laws - standard planning and zoning law (which includes feed lots) - and environmental laws.

The state environmental authority delegates power to counties for feedlots of 1,000 animals or less and joins with counties on enforcing environmental laws on feedlots of 1,000 or more animals.

"It's very clear authority," said Dave Weirens, policy analyst, Association of Minnesota Counties. Counties can also draft an ordinance to deal with emerging issues and put moratoriums on hog farms or any other businesses for up to two years.

Minnesota counties, he said, get flack from both environmentalists who say county officials aren't doing enough to help the environment and from pork producers, who say counties are being too stringent with their regulations.

"We've had that authority for years and years - it dates back to 1959. I think it would be extremely difficult to get that authority now," Weirens said, noting the lobbying strength of pork producers.

"We're lucky to have that power."

South Dakota
Hog production has also been a hot topic in South Dakota, "for about the last year or so," said Dennis Hanson, executive director, South Dakota Association of Counties.

About half of the counties in South Dakota have zoning in place to regulate hog farms with 2,500 or more hogs. Each county also has discretion to lower the amount, he said.

Every legislative session, Hanson noted, state legislators consider "about a dozen" laws regarding air quality, water quality, odor and some "out and out banning" of corporate-owned hog farms. The banning of hog farms was being considered as a ballot issue this year.

"We already have a corporate ban in effect," Hanson noted, "but they get around it now by contracting out."

A judge in a recent court case involving Stanley County, S.D., ruled in favor of the county, in support of zoning. "He was emphatic that counties have a lot of discretion," Hanson said.

EPA 'hog' group to recommend changes to regulators
NACo reps from Iowa, North Carolina serve on panel
NACo's Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee has two representatives on an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-sponsored "dialogue group," organized by the Clean Water Foundation to examine the impact of confined hog feeding operations on water quality, odor and other environmental concerns.

Margaret Pollard, commissioner, Chatham County, N.C. and Randy Hartman, executive director, Great River Waste Authority in Lee County, Iowa, are part of that group, which hopes to recommend changes to EPA and state regulators.

Other interests represented in the group are pork producers, Department of Agriculture, EPA officials, state agriculture and environmental agency directors and rural township officials.

The group, which began monthly meetings in July, will complete its work next month.

Top 10 Hog-Producing States:

States	Number of Hogs
1. Iowa	22,190,000
2. North Carolina	14,234,000
3. Illinois	8,925,000
4. Minnesota	8,851,000
5. Indiana	7,458,000
6. Nebraska	7,169,000
7. Ohio	2,983,000
8. South Dakota	2,939,000
9. Kansas	2,203,000
10. Michigan	1,939,000

Source: USDA Hogs and Pigs, December 1996 Report

Top Five Hog-Producing Counties:

County	Hogs	People	Ratio
1. Duplin County, N.C.	1,149,000	41,601	28:1
2. Sampson County, N.C.	1,085,000	50,120	22:1
3. Sioux County, Iowa	601,000	31,037	19:1
4. Delaware County, Iowa	490,000	18,332	27:1
5. Plymouth County, Iowa	376,000	24,289	15:1

Source: U.S. Census/Agriculture 1992