Since 2023, Barry, Lawrence, McDonald, and Newton counties in the southwest corner of Missouri have been targeted for 22 new poultry concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), each concentrating 125,000 to 374,999 broiler chickens into "barns" which can be located 1,000 feet from a home.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting an "in-person only" public hearing to accept comments for eight permit applications and review CAFO permitting regulations on Thursday, May 29, 4:30-6:30 p.m., at the Pierce City High School Gymnasium, 303 N. Myrtle St.
These eight operations would bring an additional 52 industrial poultry barns and over 2.5 million chickens to Newton and Lawrence counties. The industrial barns proposed for the Sarcoxie Prairie landscape alone, if lined up end-to-end, would stretch over three miles!
In a region already overburdened with industrial poultry facilities, DNR must consider density and proximity. According to Heather Peters, chief of the Water Pollution Control Branch of the DNR, "State CAFO law does not establish a maximum number of CAFOs in an area, nor does it establish setback or buffer distances between CAFOs." Neighbors to such facilities need protections of greater than 1,000 feet setbacks to homes, significant defined setbacks between CAFOs, and a limit to the number of CAFOs crammed into a watershed.
The applications say the CAFOs will "export" their litter/waste. State CAFO rules do not regulate waste exported to third parties -- applied to land not controlled by the CAFOs that produce it. No rules ensure the third parties apply the waste and its nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) responsibly, matching what crops need instead of overloading fields, which leads to excess runoff and water pollution. Nearby landowners want DNR to close their export-only waste mismanagement loophole, and require accountability for where the 20,000 tons of waste generated annually by these CAFOs is applied, ideally by field coordinates or at least by watershed.
DNR's own geohydrologic evaluations and maps show a lot of losing streams and potentially karst features. All of the DNR geohydrologic evaluations conclude: "Based on the geologic and hydrologic characteristics observed, the (production) site's potential for contamination of groundwater is significant. In the event of wastewater treatment failure, the local, shallow, and regional groundwater and the surface waters of (insert receiving stream) may be adversely impacted." No one, including DNR, monitors CAFO export only litter/manure waste land applied at will in our watersheds.
Show up for this public hearing to speak up and to learn more about this peaking threat to southwest Missouri's water, air, soil, health, country lifestyles, and property values.
Cheryl Y. Marcum lives in Cedar County, where in 2019 she organized opposition to Senate Bill 391, which overrode local authority to regulate CAFOs.