Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Saturday, May 21, 2005
Planners approve feedlot: Proposal now goes to county board
After a contentious four-hour public hearing Thursday, the Winona County Planning Commission recommended n on a split vote — a Lewiston farmer's permit request for a feedlot that would house 2,100 pigs and hold nearly
1 million gallons of manure.
The issue now heads to the county board, which will decide whether to approve the request.
Chris and Heather Sauer, of Sauer Family Farms, say they need the new feedlot to replace two outdated ones they use to raise about 900 hogs a month for market. The proposed site is located in the northeast corner of Utica Township, about two miles from Lewiston and one mile from the site where the Sauers live and currently house about 1,500 pigs.
The commission recommended approval with some conditions: Sauer must plant a shelter belt of trees around the barn; and the county will monitor the barn for odor after two years if there are complaints.
More than 100 people packed the county board room, and almost half spoke to the commission. About 20 voiced opposition to the project, citing potential threats to groundwater, air quality and property values, while 30 spoke in support of farmers' rights to expand. Many pointed to Chris Sauer as a model farmer.
Farmers say rising property values — driven in part by nonfarmers moving into the country — are part of the reason they need to expand.
"I'm going to lose friends no matter which way I vote," said Gary Erickson, one of two commissioners to vote against the proposal.
Sauer, 38, says the new barn will make his farm more efficient and provide more manure to spread on his 1,700 acres of row crops and make the farm economically viable for future generations. Retaining more manure would allow him to reduce his reliance on chemical fertilizers for the corn and soy beans that account for much of the farm's revenue.
"We're not getting any bigger," said Sauer, who now raises about 900 hogs for market each month in three barns. "We're only trying to be more efficient."
Jim Gurley, who lives about a mile east of the proposed site, said he accepted the sights, sounds and smells of farming when he moved into the country but calls Sauer's farm out of character for the county.
"He may call it a family farm," Gurley said, "But the numbers make it an industrial operation."
Many say one family is profiting at the expense of many.
"It's taking money out of one person's pocket to put it in another," said Rodney Ties, who recently built a home on County Road 20.
Many neighbors testified that they rarely notice the smell from Sauer's barns, but Susan Sommers, who lives on Rolling Hills Road — just 1,600 feet from the proposed barn — said just the sight of a feedlot would make it difficult to sell her home.
"Would you believe me if I told you it doesn't stink?" Sommers said. "We worked hard for this land, and we're still working hard for it."
A few expressed mixed feelings.
"I'm conflicted. I think Chris knows the rules and runs a tight operation," said Vic Ormsby, a member of the state Board of Water and Soil who formerly served with Sauer on the county's feedlot committee. "But we have a right to a clean environment, and I feel for the people who live downwind. If something happens, will they have a direct recourse, besides suing?"
Sauer said that he carries liability insurance, but was not sure if it would cover other people affected by an accident on the farm.
Environmentalists argue that Winona County's karst — or fractured limestone — geography, which makes groundwater especially susceptible to contamination from surface pollution makes it ill-suited for the large volumes of liquid waste stored under feedlots.
Sauer says his plans for a reinforced concrete manure pit are safe, and although the site is in a zone designated as moderate-to-high probability of sinkholes, an engineer hired by Sauer did not find any in a 1,000-foot radius of the barn's location.
Sauer says he is as concerned about groundwater as his neighbors, in part because his livestock depend on it.
"We put a lot of work and money into picking a site that won't be a detriment to the environment," Sauer said.
Erickson pointed out that Sauer could build a barn licensed for 300 animal units — or 1,000 hogs — without a conditional use permit.
"Can we put another 1,000 in there without jeopardizing these peoples' health or property values?" he asked. "That's what we're here to decide."
Reporter Chris Hubbuch can be reached at (507) 453-3511 or chubbuch@winonadailynews.com.
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