The group proposing a concentrated animal feeding operation in the Mission Hill/Gayville area has withdrawn applications to house up to 2,400 hogs. The Yankton County Planning Commission approved seven permits for operation in June. The County Board of Adjustment asked organizers to provide more information.
Three producers decided to withdraw the hog confinement proposal and reevaluate their options. Many neighbors opposed the hog barns. A meeting in June lasted six hours because so many people wanted to speak against the plan. Several claimed the producers cared more about profit than citizens’ health.
Ross Den Herder is an attorney representing the three farms. He says there was a lack of information about the operations.
“It’s clear that more education needs to be done in the countryside to understand, to help the public understand that the technology has come a very long way in the last 30 years. These facilities are not stinky, nasty, vile feeding grounds of disease and pestilence that they are perceived by the public. The technology is considerably better,” says Den Herder.
Den Herder says his clients were unhappy with the permits being tabled for more information. An attorney for the opposition says several steps in the permitting process had not been completed.