The Agriculture and Renewable Energy Committee of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission--neither of which is elected--is planning a stakeholder meeting after the elected county board returned a permit for a Schwartz Family LLC hog feedlot to the county's zoning board.
Although this sort of action is pretty rare, factory farms are so oppressed by the setback that the stakeholders are grabbing pitchforks and torches and heading to the public square, the West Central Tribune's Carolyn Lange reports in A wake-up call for agriculture:Kandiyohi County ag committee seeks discussion of zoning impact on livestock operations.
The factory farm community must be into long winter naps in Kandiyohi County. That wake-up call and planning comes nearly a month after Anne Polta reported on November 26 in Disputed hog barn permit sent back to Kandiyohi County Planning Commission:
A disputed conditional use permit application for a hog operation in northern Kandiyohi County has been sent back to the Kandiyohi County Planning Commission for further review.
The permit cleared the approval process with the Planning Commission earlier this month. But amid questions over whether there was enough information available to gauge the hog farm's impact on surrounding properties, the County Commissioners voted 3-2 last week against granting the permit, then opted to put the issue back into the hands of the Planning Commission.
The proposal is for a total confinement facility for 2,490 hogs in Colfax Township just south of the Stearns County line. The operator, Schwartz Family LLC, plans to have 10 to 12 employees at the site.
During a hearing before the Planning Commission Nov. 13, neighbors raised numerous concerns. They wanted to know if there was potential for runoff and water contamination. They asked about noise, odor and the impact of increased traffic.
The minutes for that meeting haven't been posted online yet, so we're not able to report more on the neighbors' concerns. Neither article says much about the operation, other than it will be operated on Duane Hultgren's property by Schwartz Family LLC, which shares the same address in rural Sleepy Eye, MN, as Schwartz Family Inc.
Betsy Freeze reports at Successful Agriculture in Minnesota Pork Producer Schwartz Farms Puts Family First:
He would be the last to nominate himself as a top farmer, but Schwartz and his brother, Joe, are two of the most respected independent pork producers in the U.S. Their family-owned company owns 62,000 sows and finishes all the pigs produced. Another brother, Mark, and many other family members are involved in the business, as well. . . .
By purchasing, not building, sow farms, Schwartz Farms grew to 25,000 sows by 2003 and 50,000 sows in 2015. Today, the company owns sows in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Schwartz sells hogs to most of the packers in the Midwest. The family is not involved in the packing industry. Yet. . .
And Mr. Hultgren? Hultgren Farms is also a small struggling operation that might be foreclosed with this blow a prosperous operation that includes one Hultgren's involvement with Riverview Dairy's Meadow Star Dairy. Teaming up with a pork powerhouse is entirely in character.
Polta continued:
One of the biggest questions was whether the facility would affect the use and value of surrounding property.
Planning Commission members ultimately determined that appropriate measures were in place to minimize the impact on the neighborhood and that the project would not significantly harm nearby property values.
But when the issue came before the County Board this past week, questions persisted.
This time there was an added wrinkle: the presence of a 10.6-acre buildable lot across the driveway from the proposed hog operation but over the county line in Stearns County, where longer setbacks are required.
Roger Imdieke, chairman of the County Board, wanted to know: Did the Planning Commission know of the parcel's existence when it recommended approval of the conditional use permit? If not, should it have been considered when the decision was made? ....
Lange reports that the setback caused the project to be withdrawn:
A second vote sent the issue back to the Planning Commission for further review, despite the Planning Commission's Nov. 13 unanimous vote to recommend approval of the permit because it met the county's zoning ordinance.
After that vote, the applicant — who had already made investments in soil borings and other environmental research — withdrew the permit request.
The County Board's vote and the loss of a livestock operation that would have employed about a dozen people got the attention of the committee, which has the mission of supporting agriculture in the county.
That was too much for the stakeholders (never mind those citizens concerned about their property, health and safety):
The County Board's vote to reject the permit and return the matter to the Planning Commission came after residents raised concerns about several issues, including potential financial harm if future residential development on land across the road in Stearns County was hindered because a swine facility was close by.
But Larson said if livestock permits are denied because there is the "potential" for a house to be built on adjacent land, farms will be put at an economic disadvantage — it could make it nearly impossible for any livestock operation to be built in the county.
Duane Hultgren, whose family owns the Colfax Township land where Schwartz Family LLC was planning to run the swine operation, said there is a greater financial impact to the county in lost tax revenues by denying a livestock operation versus construction of a house. . . .
Harlan Madsen, who is the lone farmer on the County Board and voted in favor of the permit, said he is "gravely concerned" about the future of livestock agriculture in the county after what he has seen in the last couple months.
"It's a wake-up call for agriculture," said Madsen, who was invited to attend the ag committee meeting. "We've got to learn something from it."
Madsen said agriculture is the current and future "economic driver" in Kandiyohi County and the industry should have broad support by the public and elected officials.
He agreed there needs to be a "conversation" about agriculture and zoning with stakeholders as long as the process does not involve "finger pointing," which he said could quickly end the conversation.
Goodness forbid that anyone be held responsible. Won't someone think of the stakeholders?
Photo: Pigs. Via the West Central Tribune.
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