July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
A tipping point on CAFOs?
Editorial
Maybe Jay County has reached a tipping point.
Maybe the county’s leaders are ready to say — finally — that there are enough confined animal feeding operations in our little corner of Indiana.
Maybe.
CAFO growth in Jay County has been inexorable over the past 15-plus years; and while there has been some localized objection to specific proposals, for the most part the opponents have been of the NIMBY variety. (That’s NIMBY as in, not in my back yard.)
No broad-based movement has crystallized seeking stricter limits on CAFO development. Instead, one by one, square mile by square mile, they’ve been established all over rural Jay County.
CAFO operators have made a compelling case that such large-scale projects represent farming’s future in the 21st century. And they’ve been largely successful in convincing county zoning authorities to see things their way.
Non-farming rural residents, the handful of people concerned about environmental issues and those concerned about the quality of life, meanwhile, have been largely ineffectual.
An editorial in this newspaper calling for a moratorium on CAFO development more than a decade ago was scoffed at and quickly forgotten.
But maybe now a tipping point has been reached.
With the county already saturated, a CAFO has been proposed in close proximity to a piece of Jay County’s pioneer heritage.
Those who remember their local history know that the Studabaker family was the first pioneer family to settle here.
But the Studabakers moved on. The first permanent settlers were members of the Brooks family.
And one of the few reminders of that family is a now-neglected pioneer cemetery close to where a new CAFO is planned.
Once upon a time, Jay County kids studying Indiana history were taken to the Brooks Family Cemetery to see the old headstones.
Not all that long ago, a modern cemetery monument marking the place was installed by someone or some organization that cared enough about local heritage.
In those days, it was possible to walk back across a farmer’s field to the Brooks Family Cemetery. But in these days of fencerow to fencerow tillage, the pathway across the field is long gone.
Now, cut off from the public, the cemetery is going to be neighbors with a large-scale hog operation.
Is this particular CAFO different from the dozens of others the county has become home to? Not really.
Except for two things: The number of CAFOs we’re already hosting and the fact that this one thumbs its nose at local history.
Will that make it a tipping point? Will that be enough for the county to say, “Enough”?
That’s hard to tell.
One thing is clear: The NIMBY approach hasn’t worked, and these days CAFOs are in all of our backyards. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
Maybe the county’s leaders are ready to say — finally — that there are enough confined animal feeding operations in our little corner of Indiana.
Maybe.
CAFO growth in Jay County has been inexorable over the past 15-plus years; and while there has been some localized objection to specific proposals, for the most part the opponents have been of the NIMBY variety. (That’s NIMBY as in, not in my back yard.)
No broad-based movement has crystallized seeking stricter limits on CAFO development. Instead, one by one, square mile by square mile, they’ve been established all over rural Jay County.
CAFO operators have made a compelling case that such large-scale projects represent farming’s future in the 21st century. And they’ve been largely successful in convincing county zoning authorities to see things their way.
Non-farming rural residents, the handful of people concerned about environmental issues and those concerned about the quality of life, meanwhile, have been largely ineffectual.
An editorial in this newspaper calling for a moratorium on CAFO development more than a decade ago was scoffed at and quickly forgotten.
But maybe now a tipping point has been reached.
With the county already saturated, a CAFO has been proposed in close proximity to a piece of Jay County’s pioneer heritage.
Those who remember their local history know that the Studabaker family was the first pioneer family to settle here.
But the Studabakers moved on. The first permanent settlers were members of the Brooks family.
And one of the few reminders of that family is a now-neglected pioneer cemetery close to where a new CAFO is planned.
Once upon a time, Jay County kids studying Indiana history were taken to the Brooks Family Cemetery to see the old headstones.
Not all that long ago, a modern cemetery monument marking the place was installed by someone or some organization that cared enough about local heritage.
In those days, it was possible to walk back across a farmer’s field to the Brooks Family Cemetery. But in these days of fencerow to fencerow tillage, the pathway across the field is long gone.
Now, cut off from the public, the cemetery is going to be neighbors with a large-scale hog operation.
Is this particular CAFO different from the dozens of others the county has become home to? Not really.
Except for two things: The number of CAFOs we’re already hosting and the fact that this one thumbs its nose at local history.
Will that make it a tipping point? Will that be enough for the county to say, “Enough”?
That’s hard to tell.
One thing is clear: The NIMBY approach hasn’t worked, and these days CAFOs are in all of our backyards. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
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