Bettina Puckett
Staff Writer
When 22-year-old Joel Parker decided he wanted to build a new concentrated animal feeding operation in Hendricks Township that would house 4,000 hogs - and perhaps as many as 8,000 in the future - the idea went over like a lead balloon with some of his neighbors.
They cited concerns involving water quality, noise, traffic and smell.
"I know it's going to stink," said Jim West, a neighbor who lives about a half-mile away. "I know it, and they know it."
But despite opposition to his idea, Parker completed a chunk of paperwork, hired an engineer to find a suitable spot for the hog barn and on May 14, he received a permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management that gave him the approval to build the CAFO.
Parker is the son of Doc and Sugar Parker, who live southwest of Bengal. He has two brothers; one is a deputy, the other a firefighter. He graduated in May from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in animal sciences, specializing in animal agribusiness.
When Parker went to college, his dad gave him some advice.
"Learn something that you can make a living at," said Doc, a full-time soybean and corn farmer.
Growing up, Parker was in 4-H and showed cattle and sheep.
"I enjoy being on the farm," he said. "And I knew I had a passion for livestock."
His parents encouraged him to stay in farming. But he questioned whether the family farm could support more than his immediate family.
"It takes 1,000 to 1,500 acres to support one family," he said. "The majority of farmers rent 65 to 75 percent of the ground they farm."
Learning about hogs
Before he went to college, Parker didn't know much about hog production, so he joined a social and professional fraternity at Purdue called Alpha Gamma Rho and met lots of students who either came from farming backgrounds or were studying agriculture.
He met Joe Dykhuis, whose family farm is based in Holland, Mich. The Dykhuis family has 20,000 hogs in production, which is considered a medium-sized hog farm.
"His family has contract finishing buildings near Lafayette," Parker said. "We would work in the buildings and vaccinate the hogs for farmers. That's how I got exposed to hog production."
In the finishing buildings, young hogs are brought to the facility weighing 45 pounds and they remain there until they reach market weight of 260 to 270 pounds. Each "turn" or cycle of animals lasts four to five months.
Parker said he liked how the state-of-the-art building was set up. "And I thought it was a good way to diversify," he said.
After his junior year at Purdue, Parker went to Michigan to complete a 10-week summer internship at Dykhuis Farms Inc. He worked in a sow unit that had one manager, 10 employees and 5,000 sows.
Parker learned about the hog business not only by working on the farm, but also by sitting around after supper each evening and talking to Bob Dykhuis, his friend Joe's dad. "That was more valuable than anything," he said. "He was very encouraging."
The Dykhuis family business started with 500 sows.
"He built the business from nothing," Parker said. "We would sit and talk and I would pick his brain for ideas."
When it came time for Parker to plan his own hog farm, which he named the "Sugar Creek Swine Farm," he talked to another pork producer in Shelby County who had gone through the same process of getting a state permit. He hired an engineer to do soil testing and then picked a location at County Road 500 South between CR 800 West and Sugar Creek Road that he thought was most suitable for a CAFO.
"The engineer said it was one of the best sites he had ever seen," Parker said.
Some neighbors not happy
Although Parker is ready to start his new career, some of his neighbors are troubled. Doc Parker, who was born and raised in Shelby County, was surprised at their comments, some of which have appeared as letters to the editor.
"If they had a concern, you would think they would pick up the phone and call me," Joel Parker said.
Only one neighbor, however, has called. The man told Parker he lived near a hog farm in Illinois and did not want to live near another one. When he asked if Parker still planned to build his CAFO and he answered yes, the man said he planned to put his house up for sale.
"He said I had the right to put the building up and he has the right to live where he wants to," Parker said. "But he hasn't put his house on the market yet."
Parker's neighbor West said he has lived in his house, which was built in 1859, for 40 years, but has never met the Parker family.
"I think he has the right to put it up," West said. "But he doesn't have the right to change the quality of my air."
Besides the odor, West is troubled about possible water contamination. West said there is a giant underground river and a regulated drain close to the site.
IDEM regulations
In response to public comments about the swine farm, IDEM said it has the authority to regulate CAFOs based on water quality concerns. But other concerns relative to odors, traffic, property values, etc., are outside of IDEM's authority to address during the permitting process, according to an IDEM document.
According to Amy Hartsock, an IDEM spokeswoman, Shelby County already has five CAFOs and 15 CFOs, which are spread throughout the county. A CFO is Indiana terminology for "confined feeding operation," while a CAFO is the acronym for the federal government term, "concentrated animal feeding operation."
The main difference between the two is that a CAFO is larger than a CFO.
"In Indiana, you're a CFO (and subject to IDEM CFO approval) if you have 600 swine, and you're a CAFO (and subject to IDEM CFO approval and federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements) if you have either 2,500 swine over 55 pounds or 10,000 swine less than 55 pounds," Hartsock wrote in an e-mail.
The CAFO being proposed by Parker is the first new hog farm to be built in Shelby County since the mid- to late-1980s. The Shelby County Board of Zoning Appeals voted 6-1 last October to grant Parker a special exception to develop the CAFO.
Hartsock checked IDEM records for the past two years and found no significant water quality violations regarding any livestock operation in Shelby County. The only violation she spotted was one CAFO near New Palestine that had not filed a manure management plan on time and was fined $1,200.
Reducing the impact
Parker said he plans on doing a number of things to help lessen the impact on his neighbors. He has designed the CAFO to be about 1,500 feet off of County Road 500 South. Woods are to the south of the site and a tree line, which will serve as a natural wind break, is to the west. Once the 82-by-413 foot barn is constructed, Parker plans on planting a tree line on the north side.
"I think people in the community will be pleasantly surprised at how little they will smell the hogs," Parker said.
Doc said he is hopeful that people will smell an odor only when the hog manure is being hauled from the site. And he confirmed that the family farm has enough land for the manure to be applied as fertilizer. Joel Parker said the manure will be injected into the ground, which is more cost efficient and less smelly.