DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – This week, Becker County advanced a large-scale hog feedlot project. Opponents argued such operations are not what rural communities want, and worry corporate agriculture has too much of an advantage in getting approval.
The 3,000-pig feedlot in Spring Creek Township was approved by the Becker County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday. The feedlot will be operated by the Swine Vet Center of St. Peter, MN, which manages five other sites in Minnesota and Iowa.
The approval of the feedlot came largely because the application met existing county zoning requirements despite opposition from county residents and White Earth Tribal Chairman Michael Fairbanks.
Sonja Trom Eayrs, a lawyer, family farm manager and grassroots activist, says local residents should pay attention to industrial farms, “Industrial animal agriculture is like a cancer upon the land, and it spreads from community to community.”
Despite Becker County’s approval, commissioners there warned about future requests and are considering a moratorium. Meanwhile, concerns about confined animal feeding operations range from water pollution to crumbling roads in townships. Eayrs notes the industry changes the complexity of rural communities by fueling a number of supply businesses.
“Most of these small towns look tired,” Eayrs observed. “They’re worn and everything is tied into the hog industry.”
According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, several Midwestern states lead the nation when it comes to the number of large confined animal-feeding operations within their borders, including Minnesota and Iowa.
Minnesota has roughly 1,500 such operations. Iowa has nearly 4,000.