Hog Factories in Pa

Steelfan · May 1, 2002

I know this is going to be a heated topic, but I felt that I wanted to get a new slant on this subject. Please understand my concern. About 5 years ago , a gentleman was having money problems, as many farmers do, and decided to put a Pig Factory about 2 miles from my home. Well when people got wind of this, I can't tell you what a fuss it caused. Lawyers, meetings, engineers, and the press were all involved. I'll try to be brief, by saying the company behind the thing decided against building it in the end. Fast forward about 2 years, and another farmer tries the same thing, same results. Now last year a township official tries the same thing, he withdrew his application. I've read about all the damage a farm of this type can do, and I was hoping it was in the past. I felt a man should be able to use his land however he wants to, as long as he's not hurting anyone around him. My thinking was all the wrinkles were ironed out of the problems. Well last week on page 3 of the local newspaper, I read that a manure lagoon overflowed, and poluted a creek. Killing everything in its path. Maybe the problem is not soluted. So why in today's paper do I read that the senate of Pa just made it easier for these farms to get into Pa? I'm thinking that there should be much, much more thought given about doing this type of thing safer. All these comments are my own experience, and the way I see it. I may not be right, but clean water is getting hard to find in the world.

JerryG · May 1, 2002

It's funny to me that EVERY one wants to eat, but there are very many that don't want a farmer to raise anything. The way I see it is that if you want to eat, someone has to raise it. The people that do the most complaining are the city people and the tree huggers. Neither one of them would know anything about farming or the land if they didn't read it in a book. The book would have to be written by a tree hugger, too.

Steelfan · May 1, 2002

No tree-hugger here. I've lived on, and around farms all my life. I'm just concerned about the thought process of others, who think that this is safe. I guess I'm wrong by caring about my own water supply. History is the best lesson. I see nothing wrong with a farmer making money, and yes I eat pork. Am also a conservative. I didn't post this to start a big bashing party, I wanted to see what others thought of the things, that I witnessed. Once again I state the fact that I love the American farmer, Grandfather, Father, and relatives are or were all some of them. The farmer built this country, and Thank God for them.

justractors · May 1, 2002

I willingly agree with Jerry on this issue.
Everyone wants to eat, to have electricity, to have a place to dump their trash, to whatever else people feel they either need to do or are entiltled to do, but no one wants it in their backyard.
Since the exporting of pork from the moon is still not a reality then it seems it still has to be grown somewhere on earth.
My suggestion would be to start a farm in New York City's Central Park but I am sure that the Ex First Witch Hillara would probably disagree with that.
What's the answer? One suggestion I have is simply if you don't like what your neighbor is doing or going to do with his or her land then make tham an offer he or she can't refuse and then do what you want with the land.
Few pig or chicken farmers work at farming simply because they enjoy it, they do it to feed their families and pay the bills. Therefor if you give them at least as much money as they would make farming I am sure they would agree to sell the property and you could turn it into a real tree hugger memorial.
Just my humble, but well thought out, opinion of course.
Bill

DocHeb · May 1, 2002

I think everyone realizes that you need to eat, and the food needs to come from somewhere. It is the size extremes that get people upset - see <A target="_blank" HREF=http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache

NbfNCuXYQkC:www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/weird_news/2991022.htm+pig+factory+manure+overflowed+creek&hl=en>Pig Factory</A>. That particular farm had 2000 pigs.

If a small hardware store wanted to open near your house it probably wouldn't cause much stir. But if it was a Home Depot or Lowe's next door - how would you feel?

The trend of "bigger is best", "lowest price at any cost", not taking care of your manure dams, and NIMBY sure leads to some conflicting and interesting opinions.

Steelfan · May 1, 2002

Wow, I guess I know where I stand. Now I'm an official Tree-Hugger. I guess I'm not doing a good job of getting my point across, so I'll say one more time. My whole family is or was farmers. Not backed by a company, who makes the most of the profits, but a family who owns land, and works it. So I'll let it at that , and I hope someday we all understand this thing.

MDNY · May 1, 2002

Steelfan,

I see what you are talking about. It has nothing to do with a business making money, who owns it or where it is. But someone has to be held accountable when stuff goes wrong, or should we put it better, that stuff shouldn't be polluting our rivers and killing everything in its path.

I understand the vegetarian beliefs but that is not what Steelfan is saying. What he is saying is certain industries have too much power and not enough regulation. I will be building and living off a well. I won't be too happy if the farmer up the road poisons my water supply with manure and I have to find a new water source. Now with that said it is unlikely the dairy farmer will do this, but a pig farmer with 2000 pigs could.

So Pollution to a the stream and eco system was the point. Gov't sometimes is too worried about a buck and not enough about how we will live if the water is toxic.

Tractor_Barn · May 1, 2002

I grew up raising hogs. The operation being discussed here IS NOT farming. I'll be willing to bet if you dig a little deeper and find out who's behind that "farm" , it will have a corporate name. Do a search on top pork producers in this country and you will not find a private enterprise in the top 100. The farmer is not feeding this country any longer, the corporate culture is doing it. Knowing that brought me back to farming. Now I know where my food comes from.

A solution? Get out of the city once in a while, visit a farmer and buy goods directly from him. You'll get a higher quality product, keep the family farm intact and make a friend.

My 2 cents...Vince

JerryG · May 1, 2002

Steelfan,
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you were a tree hugger. I guess that I am a little touchy about farming and water pollution. Animal waste and water pollution is something that I have to think about all the time. I attend several meetings a year, which pertains to this topic. A small family farmer like my self will not put the soil or water in danger. What a lot of the THs don’t understand is, that the land is our livelihood. Any time that we endanger the land or the water, we are cutting our own throats