Proposed Martin County mega hog, turkey operation has neighbors concerned

SHOALS — At least two Martin County residents aren’t keen about having 20,000 hogs and several thousand turkeys as neighbors.

So Eldon Coons and Ken Frye told the county commissioners Tuesday their concerns that one local landowner, John Burger, who happens to live in Dubois County, plans to breed turkeys and hogs on his three tracts of southwestern Rutherford Township land.

With a little more than 200 acres, Coons said, Burger has petitioned the state for permission to build four swine buildings to go with the four new turkey buildings he added to the existing three already on the land.

Each building will hold 5,000 hogs, and besides the pollution of the township’s air quality, Coons’ other concerns include the noise and management of that much manure.

“Most of us work all our lives for a comfortable home in a good neighborhood,” Coons said. “With the addition of hogs and turkeys, we’ll face lost property values and a big change in our county.”

Once an operation of that magnitude gets off the ground, Frye and Coons fear there will be more such farms coming in right behind as the ideal of the older farmer as a neighbor continues to die out.

“Farmers are either quitting or they are getting bought out,” he added.

Martin County has little in the way of zoning guidelines, and that’s part of the issue, Coons and Frye pointed out.

“For instance, a swine building can be built 100 feet from a county road,” Coons explained. “Or 500 feet from a residence. Modern zoning can control this.”

Even if zoning laws weren’t established, the commissioners could at least determine how close to roads and homes buildings for confined animals could be constructed, he continued.

Both Frye and Coons said their concerns included the entire community and not just their township. The commissioners agreed, with Commission President Mike Dant acknowledging that 200 or so acres just wasn’t enough land to manage manure from 20,000 hogs.

“The county needs protection,” Coons said. “This is urgent.”

The commissioners took no action on the issue.