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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Environment - Still more on "Huntington County dairy coming under new management"

Updating this ILB entry from March 26th which quoted a story by Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that began:

There is good news and possible bad news for neighbors who have been fighting with the troubled DeGroot Dairy in rural Huntington County.

Owner Johannes DeGroot and DeGroot Dairy LLC are barred from operating animal feeding operations in Indiana through 2048 under an agreement with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

But the new operator – Ohio-based Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development LLC – has had regulatory skirmishes in other states and plan to nearly double the herd size of the Huntington farm to pay for improvements.

July 9th Carl Smith reported for Indiana's News Center:
A dairy farm that was ordered to change ownership due to environmental violations has submitted a permit to expand its operations. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management held a public hearing to discuss expanding operations for the Huntington County dairy.

Johannes De Groot was forced to sell the dairy faciltiy for environmental violations such as water application processes and applying manure in fields without proper slopes. The new owners Andrews Dairy, L.L.C want to expand operations from 3 barns and 1400 cows to 5 barns and 2500 cows. They are currently operating on the original owner's permit.

Most everyone attending the meeting was not only against the farm expanding, but the farm being in existence at all.

Yesterday and today the Muncie Star- Press and a number of other Indiana papers carried this unattributed AP report. Some quotes>
Residents are concerned a new dairy that wants to expand on the site of a former operation that was shut down over manure spills might have similar problems.

The dairy was sold earlier this year to Ohio-based Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development LLC as part of a legal order barring the former owner, Johannes DeGroot, from operating livestock farms in Indiana through 2048. The agreement resolved legal proceedings over several manure discharges that had spilled into tributaries of northeastern Indiana’s Salamonie Reservoir.

Now Vreba-Hoff, which runs the dairy as Andrews Dairy LLC, is seeking a permit to expand the operation from 1,400 to 2,500 cattle. * * *

“We were told that the farm’s problems would be taken care of but they have not. We know that it was not built to specifications and there were problems with construction,” Jackie Lindsey said. “It’s been a living nightmare and nothing has changed, just a shift in name. I have no confidence in the ability of IDEM.”

Dennis Lasiter of IDEM said he believes the requirements of the permit will be enough to stabilize the operation. “It is protective, it provides unique conditions and it really is more protective than most farm permits out there,” he said.

But business owner Chuck Homier said he saw no reason the farm should receive the permit. “How can we reward a farm that has broken every possible rule by allowing them to double its cows?” he asked.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 12, 2008 02:29 PM
Posted to Environment