Tag: livestock farms

Students Sniff Manure

  • Professor Albert Heber holds up one of the samples from the stinky study. (Photo courtesy of Purdue University)

University students are sniffing manure samples in the lab. As Mark Brush reports, the
students are part of a research effort aimed at reducing odors near livestock farms:

Transcript

University students are sniffing manure samples in the lab. As Mark Brush reports, the
students are part of a research effort aimed at reducing odors near livestock farms:


Students are paid thirty dollars to take part in each sniff test. They tell researchers
which air samples smell the worst. Researchers are trying to figure out how to cut back
on smells coming from large livestock operations.


Al Heber heads up the research at Purdue University. He says the studies help determine
what practices cut down on smells – and it helps communities decide where to locate
these big livestock operations in the first place:


“We have used these odor emission studies to help develop a setback model. So that if
the farm is located far enough from the neighbor then we can avoid the problem because
we let the atmosphere dilute the odor down to where it’s not a nuisance anymore.”


Heber says using appropriate setbacks could cut back on the conflict between livestock producers and the people who live near them.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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Powering a Town With Manure

Large-scale livestock farms struggle with ways to dispose of their animal waste. Now, efforts are under way to make an Indiana town the first in the nation to get its power entirely from hog manure, but as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports, this venture has a long way to go before it becomes a reality:

Transcript

Large scale livestock farms struggle with ways to dispose of their
animal waste. Now, efforts are under way to make an Indiana town the first
in the nation to get its power entirely from hog manure, but as the Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports, this venture has a long way
to go before it becomes a reality:


Indiana Agriculture Department officials have unofficially renamed the
village of Reynolds as Bio-Town USA. They hope to supply the town’s power
needs with energy produced from animal waste. The technology to convert the
so-called biomass into usable power is in its infancy.


Agriculture Department spokeswoman, Deb Abbott, admits the project is venturing
into some uncharted territory.


“We don’t have all the answers. We’re gonna look for the answers and we
don’t have an exact time frame.”


Abbott says Reynolds was chosen because it’s a typical mid-west small town.
It also has easy access to manure. The state estimates more than
150-thousand hogs are within a 15-mile radius of the town.


For the GLRC, I’m Chris Lehman.

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Factory Farms Running Out of Land for Manure

Earlier this year, the EPA tightened regulations on pollution from large-scale livestock operations. Farmers will be limited on the amount of manure they’re allowed to spread on fields. A new study by the USDA says, under the new regulations, these farmers will need more land on which to spread the manure. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

Earlier this year, the EPA tightened regulations on pollution from
large-scale livestock operations. Farmers will be limited on the amount of
manure they’re allowed to spread on fields. A new study by the USDA
says, under the new regulations, these farmers will need more land on which
to spread the manure. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has
more:


Researchers say most of the big livestock farms will need more land under
the new regulations. The study found that operations in some parts of the
country will have trouble finding that land.


Marc Ribaudo is an agricultural economist with the USDA’s Economic Research
Service. He says it’s possible that these large-scale farms will look to
the Midwest as a potential place to relocate:


“I would think that for those companies or those operations where manure
management is suddenly an important cost, that they would give greater
consideration to the Midwest or areas where there’s more land available for
spreading manure.”


He cautions that manure management is just one factor in the overall cost of
running these farms. But that finding available land to spread manure on is
becoming increasingly important.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.

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Point-System in the Works for Large Hog Farms

States might soon be taking a new approach when considering permits for huge livestock farms. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:

Transcript

States might soon be taking a new approach when considering permits for huge livestock farms. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


These big livestock growing operations such as hog confinement areas are controversial because they’re smelly and they often have large lagoons of liquid manure. In some cases, that manure leaks into waterways, polluting streams. In Iowa, the Department of Natural Resources is developing an environmental checklist… several dozen things that hog producers can do to score points that make approval of the operation more likely.


They’re things such as keeping the operations far from homes, hospitals, roads and water sources.


Kara Flynn is with the National Pork Producers Council. She says an
Iowa-type plan isn’t necessary for the big pig farms.


“They’re not operating in the 1970’s; they’re operating in 2002. And they’re using technology that allows them to, as best that they can, be environmental or better environmental standards, if you will.”


No other state has gotten this far with such restrictions, but almost every hog-producing state is trying to find a solution to the environmental problems associated with the large confinement farms.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Lester Graham.

Disagreements Over Manure Runoff Policy

Environmentalists are concerned that big business agriculture will weaken a government proposal to reduce pollution. The federal government’s proposal would make large farm feedlots come up with a management plan to dispose of animal manure. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Lester Graham reports that some farm groups are fighting it:

EPA Focuses on Agricultural Runoff

The federal government is planning to deal with one of the nation’sbiggest water pollution problems. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’sLester Graham reports…the government is cracking down on agriculturalpollution…and farmers wonder who’s going to pay for it: