Commissioner proposes CAFO health ordinance

After four months of research, Western District Commissioner Roger Fischer presented his proposed health ordinance to fellow Callaway County commissioners Wednesday.

The ordinance would apply only to new confined animal feed operations (CAFOs) that meet certain parameters in six western Callaway County townships. It would require qualifying farms to register with Callaway's health department and maintain a specified distance from populated and recreational areas.

Fischer said the state Department of Natural Resources and Clean Water Commission already regulate CAFOs, but he believes the distances between CAFOs and people aren't enough.

"The animals are kept in close confinement, and the temperature is right for diseases to begin," Fischer said. "Using antibiotics to treat diseases can end up creating stronger bacteria."

Fischer said these antibiotic-resistant bacteria can remain in the soil where waste is disposed and possibly spread through water and air. He claimed, in order to protect people, CAFOs should be kept farther away from populated areas.

Research supports his claim.

"(Antibiotic-resistant bacteria) puts anyone who's around the waste products at risk," clinical microbiologist Leo Patrick Smith said.

Smith is the medical director of the University of Missouri's clinical microbiology lab. He's also part of an antibiotic stewardship committee at the university's health center. Fischer consulted with him while developing the ordinance.

When animals in a CAFO get sick, they're typically treated with antibiotics. Those antibiotics, and the microbes they're supposed to kill, end up in the animals' waste.

"If the antibiotic kills 99.9 percent, that's only 3 decimal points," Smith said. "If you have a billion bugs, that leaves 1 million bugs."

In the warm, nutrient-rich environment a CAFO provides, those "bugs" multiply quickly. Some, like deadly Clostridium difficile, can survive in the environment for a long time - and possibly infect people.

"If it gets sold as manure, who knows who might put it in their backyard?" Smith said.

C. difficile that can resist last-resort antibiotics have shown up in an Indiana pig farm, Smith said.

He encourages testing waste products for various diseases before selling it as fertilizer. Fischer's ordinance requires testing liquid waste products for four, including E. coli and MRSA.

Increasing the distance between CAFOs and people will help, Smith added.

"It will eliminate typically the odor for people," he said. "If you smell it, there's a particle there. But just the setback alone without testing will still come up short."

Fischer emphasized the majority of Callaway County's farms shouldn't be affected by his proposed ordinance.

"It protects 95-98 percent of farmers," Fischer said. "What I'm seeking is not to ban CAFOs but to have adequate setbacks to protect residents."

First, it would apply to six specific townships in Callaway County's western district - the only areas in the county with a population density high enough to require additional regulation of CAFOs, he said. (Farming operations aren't allowed within Fulton city limits.)

The townships include Bourbon, West Fulton, Round Prairie, Guthrie, Cedar (which includes New Bloomfield) and Summit (which includes Holts Summit).

"I don't believe there's any reason to subject people in dense population areas to diseases that may develop due to CAFOs being there," Fischer said.

The ordinance would affect only newly established CAFOs with 1,000 or more animal units at a density of 150 or more per acre. An animal unit is equivalent to one beef cow, 2.5 pigs, 10 sheep or 55 turkeys.

Fischer believes new CAFOs may be coming to Callaway County soon, as a large milk-processing plant is under construction in Columbia. The plant may seek shorter transport distances by partnering with new dairy CAFOs in Callaway County.

The ordinance draws on similar policies in Linn and Cedar counties. Linn County's has been tested in court, Fischer said.

It includes a number of stipulations. For one, it requires all qualifying CAFOs to register themselves and the land where they spread their waste with the county health department. They're already required to register with the DNR.

This information will be publicly available, Fischer said, and may be useful when planning development of formerly CAFO-occupied land.

"Would playing baseball on that land kick bacteria into the air?" he asked.

There are stipulations aimed at preventing waste from reaching water sources, such as requiring waste lagoons to be lined and preventing animal waste or wastewater from being applied on land with more than a 10 percent slope.

It also provides guidelines for setbacks - distances between CAFOs or their waste-spreading land and occupied dwellings, city limits and recreational areas. For example, a class 1C CAFO (with 1,000-2,999 animal units) couldn't be any closer than a half-mile to an occupied dwelling.

Not everyone is fully supportive of the proposal.

"I have a lot of issues with it," Eastern District Commissioner Randy Kleindienst said. "I'm a private property rights advocate, and every time you start chipping away at that, I'm against it."

Kleindienst noted businesses may find Callaway County's lack of ordinances attractive, and new restrictions may dissuade them from coming to the area.

Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann said there's potential for legal opposition, as CAFOs may feel unfairly targeted by the ordinance.

"Part of me struggles with making an ordinance that applies to only certain parts of the county," Jungermann said.

Fischer mentioned current CAFO operators in the county have expressed opposition.

Before the ordinance moves forward, the commission will continue to consult with legal counsel, seek public input and confer with the county health department about potential new record-keeping duties.

The commission will reconvene to discuss the ordinance in about two weeks. In the meantime, the public may submit comments by mail to Petitions, Box 6314, Fulton, MO, 65251.