More ag organizations join effort to convince judge to reconsider CAFO ruling

The Missouri Pork Association, Missouri Cattlemen's Association, Missouri Dairy Association, Poultry Federation, Missouri Agribusiness Association (formerly the MO-Ag Industries Council), Missouri Egg Council and FCS Financial of Missouri jointly filed the motion in response to the ruling issued on Monday, Aug. 25, by Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce.

The original suit was brought by the Friends of Arrow Rock, the village of Arrow Rock and the Missouri Parks Association against the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), its director, Doyle Childers and a proposed confined animal feeding operation (CAFO)

by local farmer Dennis Gessling.

As reported in The Marshall Democrat-News on Tuesday, Sept. 23, lawyers for the DNR filed a motion to vacate the ruling which appeared to prohibit any existing CAFOs within 15 miles of Arrow Rock or surrounding historic sites from transporting, spreading or hauling any manure.

Missouri Farm Bureau also filed a motion to intervene on Tuesday.

By filing the motion, Don Nikodim, executive vice-president/CEO of the Missouri Pork Association, said the agriculture groups are "essentially challenging" the ruling because in the broadest sense it could be applied to livestock farms not implicated in the original suit.

"We want the judge to take a comprehensive look at the impact such a ruling could have," said Nikodim.

Speaking on Tuesday, Doyle Childers, director of DNR, said that if applied all over the state of Missouri, the ruling could shut down livestock production in over 95 percent of the state.

Childers said the original ruling had a "lack of clarity" and a "vagueness" in the order.

Shortly after the order, lawyers for the Missouri Department of Agriculture had interpreted the motion to apply only to the original parties in the suit, which were Childers, the DNR and a proposed CAFO two miles from Arrow Rock by local farmer Dennis Gessling that has never been built.

In fact, the original suit asked for the permit issued to Gessling to be revoked. However, the permit, which was issued in 2007, expired on Aug. 30, 2008.

"Obviously we are asking the judge to reconsider because the permit is void," said Childers, adding that was just one of the issues brought forth in the appeal.

According to recent Department of Agriculture statistics, pork production in Missouri has a yearly $1.1 billion dollar impact in the state, while cattle production has a $1.5 billion impact yearly. Poultry production in the state adds $700 million in actual sales, while dairy production accounts for nearly $234 million in annual sales.