Banning Hog Farming in Missouri

Judge bans big indoor hog operations within 15 miles of historic Missouri village

By DAN MARGOLIES
The Kansas City Star

In a decision with implications for industrial hog farms throughout Missouri, a state judge has banned such operations within a 15-mile radius of the historic village of Arrow Rock.

The summary judgment ruling late Monday by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia S. Joyce came in a highly contentious case pitting the village and preservationists against the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Joyce ruled that, because the department had failed to respond to the plaintiffs’ requests to admit certain facts, all of the allegations in the requests were deemed to be true.

She then barred the department from issuing any permits for indoor hog farms within 15 miles of Arrow Rock, saying it was the constitutional duty of the state to protect Missouri’s historic sites. She also prohibited the transport or spreading of hog waste within 15 miles of the village and nearby historic sites. Read More

An activist judge has struck again. Not allowing any hog operations or even the use of manure as fertilizer for the soil within 15 miles of this village has set a very serious precedent for production agriculture. In one fell swoop this judge has taken over 700 square miles of land out of hog production and forced the farmers in the area to use expensive chemical fertilizers rather than manure. It is important to remember that these people don’t care where agriculture goes, as long as it isn’t by them and that is the attitude that will force production agriculture out of this country.