Menu

Hardin County Farm Bureau members formed a committee to answer their neighbors’ questions about environmental concerns relating to large livestock farms.

When Hardin County residents learned a large dairy farm was moving into their neighborhood, many residents were concerned about the effect it would have on the environment. Those residents asked the Hardin County Board of Health to look at proposed regulations for monitoring livestock farms.

"They had legitimate concerns, but the regulations they proposed would have punished producers in the county unjustly," said Brian Watkins, Hardin County Farm Bureau member. "We formed the committee to put forward what we knew about agriculture in Hardin County."

Watkins said the proposed regulations focused on monitoring air and health quality, which he said was reasonable, but the specific regulations were erroneous. The regulations would have focused solely on livestock farms, but the committee believed it was a much broader issue.

"Of course if you test near a large livestock farm there will be environmental issues, but there are multiple sources of contaminants in this county," Watkins said. "There are a plethora of possible contaminants in this county, and we agree that’s a huge issue for a local health board. But it is not a problem that stems from farms alone."

The Hardin County Board of Health held a special meeting where the two sides were able to make a presentation. After both sides spoke, the board voted the regulations down, but has not completely dropped the issue. Watkins said the board has formed a subcommittee to determine what role the health board can take in the future.

"We did a lot of research and fact finding for our presentation, and we got a lot of help from Alex Beard (OFBF organization director for Hardin, Logan and Union counties), Larry Gearhardt (OFBF director of local affairs), and Dave White (OFBF director of commodity activities). There was an overwhelming response from the farming community in support of what we were trying to do, and that was really so much help to us," Watkins said. "It really was a grass-roots effort, and I think we did a good thing for the producers."