Southern York County Life

Saving farms includes hogs
Sunday, February 20, 2005

I read in the paper, every now and then, where a lot of people want to save the farmland in York County.

I read where over at Hellam they want to rezone some farmland to allow development.

I read where they want to build a new school on some farmland along Route 851 near Shrewsbury.

I read where they want to build 51 homes over at Lauxmont Farms.

I read where they want to build a Wal-Mart in the fields along Cape Horn Road in Windsor Township.

Then I read where a farmer wants to expand his hog operation in East Hopewell Township, and the whole world is against him.

I’m getting tired reading.

JERRY SENTZ
FELTON

I read in the paper, every now and then, where a lot of people want to save the farmland in York County.

This is true. People do want to save farmland in York County.

I read where over at Hellam they want to rezone some farmland to allow development.

This is true.  

I read where they want to build a new school on some farmland along Route 851 near Shrewsbury.

This is true.  

I read where they want to build 51 homes over at Lauxmont Farms.

This is true. However, there is more to this situation than the writer of this letter may not be aware of. The owners of Lauxmont Farms did not want to subdivide the farm to sell it to a developer to build 51 new homes. The owners of this farm had no choice. When the head of the family died, there were a lot of unpaid bills including taxes. They didn’t have much choice but to subdivide the farm and sell part of it to a developer to pay bills and taxes in arrear. They are fighting to hold on to the 1,000 acres they still hold to continue farming. Not one word was mentioned by the writer that it is the county commissioners who forced the hand of the owners to subdivide a small part of their farm to sell to a developer. Not one word was mentioned by the writer that it is the county commissioners who are abusing their powers of eminent domain to take the remaining 1,000 acres and turn it into another county park. A park located within 2 miles of another county park that has ample room to provide a facility for public use 

I read where they want to build a Wal-Mart in the fields along Cape Horn Road in Windsor Township.

This is true.  

Then I read where a farmer wants to expand his hog operation in East Hopewell Township, and the whole world is against him.

This is false. The farmer’s original plans were not to expand an already existing hog operation but to create one at the expense of the health, welfare and well being of owners of homes the farmer subdivided his farmland for residential lots. “It’s pretty easy to write a letter to the editor when a person doesn’t have all the facts.”

I’m getting tired reading.

Perhaps this is true but it appears the writer is still reading. Instead of the writer getting tired reading, perhaps the writer needs to get out there and stand up and help the farmers save their land. Perhaps the writer should stop reading so that the writer can continue to go through life with blinders on and present themselves as they have-- being closed minded to the facts. 

The whole world isn’t against the pig farm, but many are.  Marstellar hadn’t declared how he was going to despose of deceased pigs in and there were already concerns from those to whom he had sold lots about massive amounts of manure that would be spread nearby, harmful gases that would be released into the air, and water supply issues.  Recall that water supply (or lack thereof) has been an issue for the last few years.  Wells ran dry during the drought a few years ago, and those who live in the Deer Creek development had to dig multiple wells that were extremely deep before hitting enough water to meet the demands of a home.  Marstellar’s hog “farm” was originally to be 3,000 hogs, I don’t know what it’s been scaled down to now but I believe that’s in another thread.  Now, if he wanted a couple hundred hogs, there would probably be a significantly smaller number of people portesting his proposed farm.  A couple hundred hogs would go along with a farm, 3000 is unhealthy for those in the Round Hill Church Road area.

Not everyone (especially those ‘imports’) is opposed to farming.  I wouldn’t want to see anyone’s farm taken away from them, etc.  If they choose to sell off the land, that’s their decision and another discussion.

However, the farms that were up here that locals grew up with and that some moved up here to be near were not the ‘Factory Farms’ that Marsteller was proposing.  If you’ve never driven through Salisbury, Md. on a hot, humid summer day, you’ve never appreciated the Perdue Factory Farms.  Not many people want that near their homes.

I think that some people took comments the wrong way in the whole Marsteller fight and wound up arguing against each other, when in reality they were probably on the same side.

Not everyone (especially those ‘imports’) is opposed to farming.  I wouldn’t want to see anyone’s farm taken away from them, etc.  If they choose to sell off the land, that’s their decision and another discussion.

I agree. However, it’s most unfortunate when a farmer is forced to sell off their land to pay bills and skyrocket taxes. 

However, the farms that were up here that locals grew up with and that some moved up here to be near were not the ‘Factory Farms’ that Marsteller was proposing.  If you’ve

I agree with you. I know the farms that were here when I first moved here were not factory farms and I’ve lived here a couple of decades.

never driven through Salisbury, Md. on a hot, humid summer day, you’ve never appreciated the Perdue Factory Farms.  Not many people want that near their homes.

Unfortunately I have driven through that area on a hot humid summer day. Barf!:mad:

think that some people took comments the wrong way in the whole Marsteller fight and wound up arguing against each other, when in reality they were probably on the same side.

Could be. 

You don’t even have to drive to Salisbury. Just drive over to Lancaster County. Take Route 30 East past the Columbia exit. Just before you get to Prospect Road, there is a CAFO on the north side of the highway. It is a twin barn unit, each barn sized for 2,200 hogs. I believe it is a Wenger Feeds facility which is most likely Country View Family Farms (aka Hatfield).

Take a moment to enjoy the aroma. I travel by it every day for work. There have been days when I have been at the Turkey Hill at Prospect and Columbia Ave and could smell it (1 mile away opposite the fans). The day I noticed it there was the day after the unit had been reduced to 2,200 - they had just emptied the one barn. So this is exactly what Mr. Marsteller had proposed - 2,200 hogs.

They claimed no one would notice. Hogwash. I smell that thing more days than not when going by at 55 mph. I also notice it at varying distances, sometimes as much as 1 mile away opposite the fans. In the interest of fairness, I drove around on one of those days to make sure it wasn’t something in the fields - they were clean of manure. It was definately the odor plume from the hogs.

The Marsteller’s took many of us on a little field trip to a unit in Quarryville. When we arrived I was surprised to notice the odor was minimal. We left after about 3 hours and drove back about 90 minutes later on our own. The stench was overwhelming at that point. It seems they turned off the pit fans while we were there allowing the fumes to build up in the pit. When we left, they must have fired them up to clear the air because we could then here them running (higher pitch then the main vent fans).

I don’t mind a few days of manure being spread in the fields. I do mind being forced to breath the toxic fumes that come from a factory facility like these. 

The whole world isn’t against the pig farm, but many are.  Marstellar hadn’t declared how he was going to despose of deceased pigs in and there were already concerns from those to whom he had sold lots about massive amounts of manure that would be spread nearby, harmful gases that would be released into the air, and water supply issues.  Recall

You’re right. The whole world isn’t against the hog farm. The many you mention that were opposed to the hog farm were opposed to corporate farming. It was mentioned how the hogs would be disposed of, they would be left to decompose until a truck which would come out approximately once a week to pick up the carcases.

Documented studies did prove that the health, welfare and overall well being of all township residents residing within a 5 mile radius would be at great risk.

that water supply (or lack thereof) has been an issue for the last few years.  Wells ran dry during the drought a few years ago, and those who live in the Deer Creek development had to dig multiple wells that were extremely deep before hitting enough

Actually lack of water supply has been an issue longer than the last few years. It’s been an issue for at least over 20 years that I’m aware of. I’m one of the homeowners who’s well ran dry during that last drought. Maryland documented that drought as being the 60th year of having a drought. Southern York County’s weather is very compatible to that of Maryland. Thus I think in my opinion it would be safe to conclude that the southern end of the county has been in a drought for the same amount of time as Maryland. It’s just that from year to year the degree of the drought varied.

water to meet the demands of a home.  Marstellar’s hog “farm” was originally to be 3,000 hogs, I don’t know what it’s been scaled down to now but I believe that’s in

The proposed hog farm was scaled down to 2,000.

another thread.  Now, if he wanted a couple hundred hogs, there would probably be a significantly smaller number of people portesting his proposed farm.  A couple hundred hogs would go along with a farm, 3000 is unhealthy for those in the Round Hill Church Road area.

I agree with you about there being less people protesting if only a couple of hundred hogs were involved. There have been farmers in the township that raised 100 or 200 hogs for years and I don’t recall any protesting about those farms.