State ag rep cool to proposals (6/20/05)

Proposed changes in the way that livestock operations are regulated locally drew a rather cool reception from an official from the newly-created Indiana Department of Agriculture.

Jay County Commissioners, who met today with three state officials to discuss changes in livestock regulations proposed by a committee, didn’t get much encouragement in their efforts.

Tammy Lawson, director of industry relations and regulatory affairs for the Department of Agriculture, never openly expressed opposition to the proposed regulations, but urged Commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Faron Parr and Gary Theurer to hold off on any changes until after the Mitch Daniels administration has made changes of its own.

Theurer, who was a member of the committee that worked for months on the proposed changes currently under consideration by the commissioners, took the lead in this morning’s discussion. He read and explained the proposals, followed by an unstructured discussion between the commissioners, Lawson and Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials Dave Russell and Michael Dunn.

“We want to promote agriculture, but let’s make everybody on the same page ... and not at the expense of everybody else,” Theurer said near the end of this morning’s discussion.

Lawson cautioned the commissioners that adopting regulations more stringent than neighboring counties or Ohio could make Jay County a less attractive place to site agricultural operations.

Theurer and Parr were non-committal at the end of this morning’s discussion, but Miller said that he would be fine if no changes were made. Miller, who has expressed his concern about so-called “mega farms,” said the proposed changes don’t address those concerns.

The committee, which was comprised of farmers, government officials and citizen members, recommended local rules be adopted or strengthened on manure application and setbacks for livestock facilities, as well as adding local steps to the process of siting a confined feeding operation. That process would include a notification of anyone who lives or owns property within a one-mile radius of the proposed facility.

That committee, which began meeting in 2004, held a public hearing on the recommendations in March, then met for a final time in early April before submitting the proposed changes to the commissioners.

Some of the proposed changes would require amendment of the county zoning ordinance, while some would be new general ordinances.

Russell, director of the office of external affairs and agricultural relations at IDEM, echoed a comment made by many during the committee process.

“If we could just go back to being good neighbors, it’ll solve a lot of issues,” Russell said.

The committee’s recommendations were geared toward livestock operators who aren’t being good neighbors.

Despite assurances from Lawson that state rules and regulations are sufficient, the commissioners agreed today that part of the motivation for more local rules was a dissatisfaction with the way IDEM and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources enforce rules almost exclusively on a complaint-driven basis.

Russell, who was joined in the discussion by Dunn, an environmental scientist in the confined feeding program with IDEM, said that the IDEM confined feeding inspector for Jay County also covers five other counties in the region.

Dave Lowe, president of Farm Bureau of Jay County, was in attendance during this morning’s discussion.

He said that Farm Bureau believes that better education and public relations efforts will help the problem more than additional rules and regulations.

Lowe said that county Farm Bureau members will be meeting this weekend to vote on a proposed change in policy that would recommend that livestock operators of every size would be required to earn a certification before being allowed to spread manure.

“We’re pro-agriculture ... but we’re pro-environment,” Lowe said.[[In-content Ad]]