HANCOCK COUNTY — A farmer is looking to build a swine farm in northeastern Hancock County holding up to 5,000 hogs, and several of his neighbors are strongly opposed.
Aaron Wilson is planning the wean-to-finish swine facility of two interconnected barns, each 71 by 277 feet, in the middle of a 30-acre farm field near the intersection of County Roads 725E and 650N.
The project calls for below-building manure storage pits 8 feet deep, a well, a mortality compost building and an access drive from 725E.
A report filed with the Hancock County Planning Department prepared by Columbus-based Landmark Enterprises indicates that manure and wastewater at the site would be applied as plant nutrient for crop production. Wilson has secured through ownership or contract about 445 acres for that purpose, according to the report.
“I chose to follow in the footsteps of my parents who have a farming business in our community,” Wilson told the Daily Reporter in an email. “As a young farmer trying to build a business like my parents, I need to generate enough income to survive. Raising livestock helps generate enough revenue for me to own a full-time farming enterprise.”
Hancock County has approved a building permit for the project, and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has approved a permit for a confined feeding operation.
Wilson said he hopes to be operational by October.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Services Agency announced through a public notice that it is completing an environmental assessment on the proposed project. The FSA will accept comments on the proposed project’s potential effects on protected resources and the human environment through Feb. 29.
The FSA did not return requests for comment on the environmental assessment process.
William Cain lives just northeast of where the hog barns are proposed and said wind in the area commonly comes out of the southwest.
“I’m going to smell hog manure for the rest of my life,” Cain said.
He’s lived for at least five years in a house that used to be his grandmother’s and said he has invested a lot of money fixing it up and expanding it.
Cain said he doesn’t personally have anything against Wilson. Along with the odor, Cain’s concerns over the project include increased truck traffic, a drop in nearby property values and poor drainage in the area.
“Everything in a quiet, little neighborhood is going to go to pot,” Cain said.
Scott Ruble, who also lives nearby, shares Cain’s concerns over odor and increased traffic.
“I’m just not very pleased at all about it,” he said of the proposed barns.
Robert Mayer of Connersville owns about 40 acres of woodland directly west of where Wilson plans to erect his barns. An attempt to reach Mayer was unsuccessful, but he wrote in a February 2019 letter to Wilson filed with the Hancock County Plan Commission that he is “appalled and disappointed at the proposal of this facility.”
In his letter, Mayer cites road degradation, odor, increased traffic, noise, loss of adjacent property values and surface and subsurface movement of manure spread on cropland that could potentially affect groundwater. He added he’s begun gathering appraisals of his property and that he intends to seek legal counsel upon the commencement of the barns regarding pursuing damages for reduced real estate value.
Gary Pool, Hancock County engineer, said County Road 725E could handle the additional swine-filled semitrailer-trucks Wilson’s operation would bring.
“That road routinely gets grain traffic that weighs more,” Pool said. “…It should be able to handle livestock traffic.”
Wilson said he’s formally notified his adjoining neighbors of the project and if there are others who would like to speak with him about his plans, he is willing to discuss the project with them on an individual basis.
The facility would be the 14th confined feeding operation in Hancock County, according to information provided by IDEM.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At issue” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency is completing an environmental assessment for a proposed hog farm in Hancock County.
FSA is accepting comments on the potential effects of the proposed project on protected resources and the human environment through Feb. 29, 2020.
Information regarding the project can be reviewed in person at the Hancock County Farm Service Agency Office, 1101 W. Main St., Suite O, Greenfield.
Comments should be submitted by mail to J. Michael Priest at Farm Service Agency, 5981 Lakeside Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46278.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Hog farm proposed for Hancock County
- Near intersection of County Roads 725E and 650N
- Two interconnected barns, each 71 by 277 feet
- Capacity of 5,000 head
- Below-building manure storage pits 8 feet deep
- Mortality compost building
[sc:pullout-text-end]
