Posted on 09/28/2011 11:14:23 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MAGNOLIA, WI — John Adams can’t see the nearly 3,000 cows on the dairy farm two miles from his Wisconsin home, but when the wind blows he can smell them.
The stench gives him and his wife headaches. They blame the big farm for contaminating their air and polluting the groundwater well they use for drinking, bathing and watering their garden. They no longer feel safe eating the vegetables they grow.
Adams also blames the state, which requires local governments to grant permits to large farms that meet certain limited criteria, even if there are additional environmental concerns. The rural farming town where he lives tried to impose stricter rules, only to be overruled by the state agriculture department.
Adams and seven neighbors, along with the town of Magnolia, sued the state and the farm in the first case of its kind to reach a state supreme court and the result could set a precedent throughout the Midwest. Similar cases have been filed in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma, and two juries in Missouri have already handed out multimillion-dollar awards to homeowners who complained of intolerable odors from so-called factory farms.
At the same time, several states have passed or are considering laws that would make it easier for big farms to get permits. Lawmakers say the move creates uniformity, allowing farms to expand under predictable circumstances, and strengthens one of the few industries that didn’t tank in the recession.
Critics argue the laws deprive residents of a voice.
“A township should have the right to establish guidelines to keep its people safe, but it doesn’t,” said Adams, 61. “Those of us who are being affected, it’s like there’s nothing we can do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The way the article reads, Adams was there first. The farm keeps expanding, tripling its herd while simultaneously going to court to prevent the local government from testing for contaminants.
Maybe it’s just me, but I rather enjoy the faint whiff of cow manure in the air. If you’ve grown up around farms, it’s a pleasant and familiar smell.
Same with horses. I draw the line at pigs.
When they sprinkle the pastures across the way with liquid cow manure, that’s another matter entirely. But that rather horrible and unnatural smell only lasts for a day or so, and then it’s gone. And they get three or even four harvests from the grass, depending on the weather.
Maybe old John can start eating lawyers.....I hear they taste like rat.
I guess plans for the airport fell through.
Probably has to speak through a lawyer due to deficiencies in his English.
(/s) ~ this is about Wisconsin so most of what I said is not exactly a joke.
Now, about this method of his of going into a region with smaller farms that used to be "general farms" and turning it into a monster poop factory! That's SOOOOOOOO North Dakota!!!!!! and right down to the Scanderhoovian name.
I can't believe the idea was that of Br'r Larson ~ has to be an investment group behind it who think of their land in terms of SECTIONS.
I really don’t care. There is little appreciation from these newcomers who want the farmers to change to accommdoate THEM and in no way want to give up a thing when they move to a rural area where the farms have been in operation for generations.
Liberals want all the benefits from owning property as long as they do not have to pay a dime for it, they expect mama government to give them, for free, unlimited views of nature, the sounds and fresh air smell of nature, all the services of city living, just because they bought a quarter acre lot in the country side and put up an eco dome with solar panels on the roof. They expect long time land owners to shut down farms, end gravel quarrying, stop shooting & hunting and provide them with vistas by not developing the land bought long before the eco-nut liberals invaded the area.
In my neck of the woods, the DNR would be on your back in a heartbeat.
That's pretty open farm country when it comes to Souvrn' Wisconsin.
The complainant is a farmer. The offender is a poop manufacturer.
This story stinks of Bull$h*t to me....
At the same time he's been in court to stop the "town" (actually larger than most Midwestern "townships") and he and his goombahs have gone to the legislature for further protections from older established farmers.
If he gets what he wants folks will be building Hog Factories and you just haven't lived until you've been within 15 miles down wind of one of those suckers!
Even Larson is going to be complaining.
If he is buying additional farm land, the farm was still there first.
Sounds like he would fit right in with the corn ethanol mafia.
See this horsedoo often, someone moves into neighborhood where a nearby farm has been for years and the newby begins bitchin about the smell.
Because its hard to shut one down on smell, they then start saying water POLLUTION.
Can’t imagine this going very far in DAIRY Wisconsin.
Tom Daschle sponsored a lot of legislation to make it all possible and in the process disabled most of the smaller dairy farms in Minnesota and Wisconsin. This is one of those areas close enough to urban areas (a mere 100 miles or so) that you can do dairy economically with only 100 cows.
I'd bet Larson is a member of ELCA (they use gay ministers and always take the Liberal position on any issue).
Wait...What? You mean the farmers were there first? And the people who moved in did so knowing that the farmland was there?
Sounds to me like the liberal yuppies want the government to support their stupidity and short sightedness....
Oh yeah. That's what government is best at.
The people there first are being bullied.
Your boy Preibus and his boy Walker are on the side of the factory farm guy with the irregular disposal method for the many tons of poop he produces each day.
Lilly loved to do that big boil on the weekends when all their employees were SOMEWHERE ELSE!
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