New Town Created To Defeat Hog Operation

New Town Created To Defeat Hog Operation LIVESTOCK Hogs (33) 21-4-5 There is a new "town" springing up in north central Iowa. It won't have all the amenities that most towns have - no tavern, no stop lights, no grocery store. The only reason for its existence is to keep a big hog operation out of the area. DeCoster Farms of Iowa wants to put a large hog confinement operation in Franklin County. Nearby residents hope to block construction by setting up a new town in the country-side to allow them to control zoning. "All we want is local control and this is the only way I could think of to get it," Phillip DeMoss, a Sheffield, Iowa, attorney who came up with the idea, told FARM SHOW. "We got sixty-nine of seventy signatures of the eligible electorate on a petition to incorporate. We sent it to the City Development Board in Des Moines in June and we're waiting to see what their decision is, whether they'll require us to provide more city-type services than we outlined." DeMoss and Sheffield-area farmers like Mary Ellen Sprung and Wallace Kreimeyer cite concerns about pollution, odor, and the economic impact of big confinements on family farms. They claim DeCoster poultry operations have already polluted three wells in Franklin County, and they say the company has a poor environmental track record elsewhere in Iowa and the U.S. Still, not everyone agrees with the group's tactics. "They all want to stop the æfactory farm', but what's the definition of a æfactory farm?'" said Norman Schmitt, Rudd, Iowa, president-elect of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. "I think it'll only discourage hog farmers from improving their operations." Meanwhile, DeCoster Farms denies it has plans to develop the Big Hill area. However, there was some unexplained digging on DeCoster's land last winter. (By Jim Houtsma)

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