Opinion: Wants commitment from dairy development company

Our family and many of our neighboring families have lived on this land in Democrat Township for many years. We enjoy the value of the beauty, the value of the land and the history of the area and we desire they remain forever. Which leads to this question.

What part of "we don't want this dairy factory farm in Democrat Township" do the Carroll County Commissioners not understand? The information we have been fed from the Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development contains nothing more than additional speculation about what this dairy farm will be.

Agribusiness has reaped great profits while keeping consumer prices somewhat low. But the real costs of factory farming - in terms of the loss of family farms, damage to the environment and human and animal illness - are tremendous.

Factory farms pollute the air and water, endanger human and animal health and drive responsible, sustainable farmers out of business.

The only way we, the community, can establish any comfort level is to have written commitments from all of the parties involved in the venture. We want written commitments that will: 1. Have bonding in place for repairs to County Road 600 South. 2. Have bonding in place for neighboring wells within a 2- mile radius from the exterior of the property against wells going dry and against harmful levels of e-coli, nitrate and nitrite contamination. 3. Bonding for repair and upkeep of county regulated drains. 4. Bonding for any cleanup/spills from the CAFO and associated manure application. 5. Mounding with evergreen plantings and landscaping on top of the mounds around the perimeter of the operation to block all light and sound. 6. Requiring that all vehicles, including farm tractors, must be parked behind the mounding and landscaping when not in use. 7. Carroll County road 600 South must be rebuilt, per Indiana State Highway specifications from State Road 75 to a point 300 feet east of the proposed entrance, including tapers into and out of the entrance along with a passing blister on the opposite side of the entrance. 8. Lagoon liners will be synthetic. 9. Monitoring devices will be installed to monitor air quality and reports made public each month through the Carroll County Health Department. 10. aInstall monitoring wells around the site and lagoons that must be tested by an independent test company and submitted to the Carroll County Health Department which will become public record on a monthly basis. Corrective action will be taken within 30 days. 11. The CAFO and operators/ developer will update its operation as new technology becomes available. 12. Workers at the CAFO will not become a burden to the taxpayers of the school system. 13. No expansion will ever take place at this operation/location. 14. An approved method of controlling flies and birds must be in place, on record in the Carroll County Health Department, and continually updated.

Then and only then will we feel Vreba-Hoff has a true commitment to the Carroll County community.

Cecilia Conway, director of customer relations with Vreba- Hoff, makes reference in her "Opinion" article in the Oct. 4, 2006, Carroll County Comet to a study in Huntington County about property values. My question to her is this: Who bought those properties and for what use? Was the study nonbiased?

My analysis of land values in a situation such as this dairy factory is that the economic reality stops short of considering land use. In the following hypothetical scenario (which in reality is not hypothetical at all) a decrease in value (as opposed to Conway's cite of Huntington County) would likely occur. A rural home site with an appraised value of the dwelling structure at $200,000 and an appraised land value of $10,000 per acre may double or even triple in land value after five years of adjacent industrial development (factory farms), from the perspective of a developer.

However, it is highly unlikely the property will attract the average homebuyer, when a comparable property in a rural area, lacking the view of a 4,100 head dairy farm, can be purchased for less.

Subsequently, developers interested in the property would unlikely consider the value of the dwelling structure in a purchase agreement as it would likely be razed or otherwise removed, thus the land value is all that remains.

Therefore, here is the remaining formula: ((6 acres x $10,000 per acre appraised value in 2006) + $200,000 replacement value of structure) x 300% land value appreciation five years = $380,000 - developer's generous offer of $180,000 for land = net loss of $200,000. This is not good math for the smart investor, but makes for good fluff for the developers.

Conway also says, "In the states where our farmers operate, the combined farms employ nearly 370 people who earn in excess of $14 million." The simple math here gives an average of $37,838 per person, still below the average wage earner in Indiana of nearly $40,000. These numbers, of course, are hypothetical, but like everything else in this attempt to establish this factory farm, we have been given no information as to the exact numbers of what the true economic benefits will be.

She ends by saying that "We welcome the opportunity to show you how clean and pleasant our dairy farms actually are. Seeing one in person could very well allay yours fears."

First of all, about eight concerned Democrat Township neighbors signed up to go on a bus tour offered by T. Ayres et al, this past summer and the tour was cancelled. We never did know why.

Additionally, we have seen your dairies on our own tours and we are not impressed. We don't want what everyone else might have.

If you have a true interest in this community, you would be willing to sit with the neighbors and listen to our concerns and fulfill the ideas which will help protect the health, safety and welfare of this County.

But as it stands, long after Vreba-Hoff is gone, your kind of legacy will affect the lives of all citizens in terms of their health and well-being, of the land and of communities in a destructive way. We, as concerned citizens need to move towards greater innovation and care, both of which are more easily accessible than ever by creative minds in universities, local communities and trailblazers like Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson and many others.

Do what is right for Carroll County, Democrat Township, and our concerned neighbors and move your site somewhere where it might be welcomed.

Jerry L. Carter

Cutler