[Jacob-list] USDA mandatory program

[Mary Spahr]

Since the people in our rural Ohio township have been fighting a confined animal feeding facility of 2,100 dairy cows for almost two years, I have gleaned first-hand knowlege of how the Ohio Dept. of Ag. handles public dissent and how difficult it truly is to fight corporate agriculture.

The mega-dairy tried to sneak in 'under the radar' but was caught by one of our township trustees since he lives close by the proposed site and asked the surveyors what they were up to.  If you type in Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development, LLC on the internet you will get a picture of their extensive environmental violations throughout Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.  They are a turn-key operation who develop the huge facilities.  In this case the cost would be around $7 million, then
recruit dairymen from the Netherlands to come here and buy the facility, whose experience is typically for milking about 50 cows.

Our township formed Citizens Against Mega-Dairies, LLC, a grassroots organization to get voices heard.  They have appealed the ODA permit of the facility.  My husband is one of three township trustees, so I have heard the concerns of our residents.  It is heart-wrenching to feel the hopelessness in the face of state control - yes, in our country.  I have attended the public hearings sponsored by the ODA and listened to neighbors who have gotten up and voiced their concerns, with their speeches transcribed by a court reporter.  I have signed my name to petitions and donated money along with other residents who did not have it to spare - all in the name of democracy and the belief that local control should not be stripped away by the ODA or the USDA.  

The laws written to protect these super-sized facilities are like layers of an onion - peel one back and there is another to protect their environmental pollution, huge water consumption, destruction of roads, and property values.  The ODA mailed their "responsiveness summary" to all of us who either spoke at the hearing or mailed written concerns to them.  Their answers were lame and we did not gain one inch from this agency.  They ignored our state senator's concerns and those of our county commissioners.  Our state represetative drew back his support of our community when Farm Bureau got to him.  

Our township trustees made a brave move.  They enacted a new zoning amendment, forcing local control by stating that any CAFO which needs state permitting must file for a conditional use permit by our local Board of Zoning Appeals.  We are now involved in a lawsuit because the dairy development company has sued the township trustees.  It was interestng to sit in on the hearings and encouraging to know that we have a chance to make case law.  

This is why I know that we must hold onto our rights as small farmers and keepers of our flocks of sheep, chickens, or whatever else we want to raise.  There is too much governmental control over our lifestyle as is.  If disease is such a concern to the USDA, they why do they not require Johne's testing of all the huge dairy operations they promote?  If they are so concerned, why push for huge numbers of animals in one location so that antibiotics must be used and any disease could spread easily?  I know the answer to this question - money.  It's all about profit margins for corporate ag.  They say that America demands cheap food, but they are ignoring our demands for a clean environment and food raised without antibiotics.  Johne's disease has been found to survive pasteurization of milk and stay in the soil, showing up in hay that we may purchase and feed to our animals.

Just be careful what rights you give up and be proponents of agricultural diversity and sustainable agriculture.

Mary Spahr
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