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Hundreds attend public meeting addressing hog farm concerns

Amy Mayer
/
Harvest Public Media

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources held a public hearing last night at Hatton-McCredie Elementary School to allow residents of Callaway County to bring up concerns about a controversial hog farming operation. 

The proposed concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, would contain three buildings housing over 7,600 sows and 2,700 maturing females. The buildings would be built over a concrete basin to collect the pig’s waste and be used as fertilizer. 

Many residents of including farmer Jeff Jones voiced their concerns about what the animal manure would do to the water quality. Jones formed the Friends of Responsible Agriculture in response to the CAFO operation. He said his main concern is the pig waste draining into the surrounding water sources and affecting the health of residents.

"There's going to be issues that are going to have tremendous negative impacts on the quality of life and that's going to bring many, many troubles down the road. And the water issue is extremely important. We've got to have good clean water," Jones said.

Jones also voiced concerns about the elevation levels of the property. The proposed site is higher than his property, according to Jones, which means the manure can flow down in the creeks. He said he worries the water will be harmful to the animals on surrounding farms.

Callaway County Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann said there is not much they can do if the CAFO is put in place except to make sure it is operating properly.

"Our job then is to make sure that they run a safe business up there and do things the right way and treat the citizens of that neighborhood. Be kind to your neighbor," Jungermann said.

At the hearing, the DNR specified the structure was more than one hundred feet away from any water source. They also reviewed how the permit application works and stated the CAFO met all of the application requirements. The company Calloway Farrowing LLC applied for a permit to build this CAFO in Calloway County in August. The DNR will choose to accept or deny this application within the next month.  

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