Rural Center Point farmer returns with scaled-back hog confinement proposal

A rural Center Point farmer is back with a revised proposal to expand an existing hog confinement operation, and some neighbors intend to fight it.

Matt Ditch, 4853 West Otter Road, Center Point, made a similar proposal last fall, but then set aside his plans.

Ditch, who does business as CP3 Farms LLC, now has reduced the size of his earlier proposed "confined feeding operation" so it no longer needs to pass a "master matrix evaluation" by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The master matrix is a score card of environmental and safety issues.

Last fall, Ditch was proposing an operation to make 5,661 hogs ready for market, and now he is proposing one that will house 4,160 hogs, a number just few enough to not require the DNR's matrix evaluation.

Regina Behmlander of Center Point, who was among those who opposed the hog operation last fall, said on Monday that she and others feel more strongly than ever about their opposition.

Behmlander said the proposed hog confinement operation will drive down property values, harm the safety of those living around it and harm the environment, as hog waste is applied to fields and then washes into streams and creeks.

"We're looking at our health, the environment and property values," she said.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors on Monday agreed to conduct a public hearing on the proposed hog confinement operation at its June 17 meeting.

At the same time, Supervisor Lu Barron said that the supervisors "really have no influence" in the matter because the proposed confinement operation has been scaled back so it does not require a DNR master matrix evaluation. The supervisors, she noted, were not required to conduct a public hearing.

Even so, Supervisor Linda Langston said she wanted the supervisors to conduct a public hearing so the public comments then could be forwarded to the DNR, which must approve a construction permit for the proposed hog operation.

Supervisor Brent Oleson also supported the county's public hearing because he said he always favors public input. However, he noted that Linn County has a number of hog confinement operations, particularly in the northern part of the county, and they are "good neighbors," he said.

Langston responded, "Four thousand hogs within two miles of Center Point does seem to be a little bit of a stretch."

In Ditch's proposal to the DNR, he states that he will be adding to an existing confinement feeding operation of 300 nursery pigs that weigh on average 35 pounds.

The expanded operation will consist of 4,160 hogs being finished for market that will average 150 pounds each.

The DNR requires a master matrix evaluation if the existing operation being enlarged was built after April 1, 2002 or if the operation is a new one. The existing hog operation at the Ditch farm was built in 1996, according to his application to the DNR.

The DNR's master matrix evaluation also is required for existing operations that will consist of 1,667 "animal units" or more. Under the DNR's formulation, feeder cattle have an individual animal unit of 1, while finished hogs have an individual animal unit of 0.4.

Ditch's proposal for 4,160 finished hogs equates to 1,664 animal units, which is under the 1,667 animal units needed to require the DNR's master matrix evaluation.

Ditch could not be reached on Monday.