Friends of Rural New York

State University of New York at Purchase
September 28th - 7:00 pm
Purchase, New York
Choral Hall of the Music Building
914-251-6860

Director James Spione, an alumnus of the SUNY Purchase Film Department, will introduce the film and lead a discussion after the screening.

Friends- Please see this film. This is a beautifully told narrative of a dairy farm family in New York State.
Read the following review from the Syracuse Post Standard.
See:
http://www.americanfarmmovie.com

‘American Farmer’ has story to tell

By Frank Herron
Staff writer
The Ames family has kept its Richfield Springs dairy farm going for about 150 years. But Langdon “Lanny” Ames, the fifth generation, marks the end of the line.

Debt’s not the problem. Neither is mismanagement. Nor bad health.

The last of the Ames farmers, who’s nearing 70, has nobody waiting to take over, something he did in the early 1960s.

The arc of farm life on the property, about two miles west of Richfield Springs and less than 20 miles north of Cooperstown, has been captured in an 80-minute documentary called “American Farm.” It will be shown at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Everson Museum.

Director Jim Spione drew upon 20 hours of interviews with family members and various photographs and documents. The result is a profile of more than a century’s worth of farming in

Upstate New York and an introduction to the final Ames farmer.

Spione takes the project personally. His mother grew up on the farm. Shirley Ames went on to graduate at Syracuse University in the late 1940s and begin a career in the field of education.

The screening at the Syracuse International Film & Video Festival marked the first festival appearance for the movie. It premiered at the Farmers Museum in Cooperstown in February. Earlier this month, he showed it to a group in Rhinebeck.

“People seemed to be almost shocked by how emotional the film is,” Spione says.

It helped, Spione acknowledges, that he had a family connection - prompting more openness.

“If it was a filmmaker from outside the family, I don’t think they would have gone there,” he says.

His look at the hard work and hard decisions that farmers face nowadays illustrate greater issues, he says.

The film shows how people face the “loss of an old-fashioned idea of a rural community,” he says.

© 2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.

Copyright 2005 syracuse.com. All Rights Reserved.

Article published Aug 25, 2005
Please save rural life from ‘factory’ farms

Our legislators need to rewrite the laws to draw the line between farms and factories. The health of rural life depends on that line.

It’s 9 at night and my kids can’t get to sleep. The problem? Eighteen-wheelers, huge dump trucks and giant farm equipment are thundering past my house every couple of minutes. The house shakes, the windows rattle, and exhaust fumes fill the air. It’s too hot upstairs to shut the windows, and even if we did, that wouldn’t stop the noise.

Now, if someone was having a party, creating a fraction of this noise, you could bet that the police would be all over them. But can the police do anything about this? “There are no laws� to help us with this abomination, they tell me.

Hey, you know what? It’s not their fault. Before I called the sheriff, I called the “farmâ€? to ask for a cease fire. My neighbor, the owner, reamed me out for my nerve. One of my kids is trying to recuperate from pneumonia, I explain, so can’t they take the long route around for a while at this time of night? (It’s now 9:30 on a school night). How dare I? He’s trying to run a business here!

His family calls it a farm, but, in fact, it’s a Contained Animal feeding Operation (CAFO). That is a giant factory where thousands of animals are permanently kept, never feeling the sun on their backs or munching a blade of grass. A CAFO can generate thousands of pounds of manure a day, suck up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, and throw in various chemicals to “sanitize,â€? promote decay and boost milk production. What do they do with all that poop? Well, after it’s settled in nasty lagoons around the neighborhood, where it decays and festers for a while, they suck it up into these huge tankers and spew the putrid mix wherever they can, the closer to the CAFO the better, because it’s quite expensive to haul all that fetid effluent way. En route, the neighbors are blasted by the stench, the noise and the dust for days on end.

But that’s OK! They’re only trying to run their business, right! Tell that to my kid, who’s still upstairs, coughing and wide awake at 10.

When the CAFO is in full haying swing, like in early June, they like to call themselves farmers, because farmers can (and should) get special privileges when it comes to harvest time and bringing in the hay and being a general nuisance on the roads.

But these people are not farmers, and their operation is not a farm. It’s an industrial factory, creating the same problems as many other industries; pollution, noise, environmental degradation and reduction of quality of life for the unfortunate neighbors.

Cornell University, my small-farm friends tell me, promotes these “factory farms� as the way of the future for agriculture. We all say, “God Help Us!� because we are zoned as an agricultural district. That used to be something to be proud of. In the past few years, even my farming friends are full of fear.

It’s 11:30 and I’m still awake. Oh, the trucks finally stopped running around 10 or so. But my son is still coughing. I guess he can’t sleep, either.
Kelly Doolittle
Locke, NY

Ithaca Journal

Investigation Indicates Permit and Water Quality Violations at Lewis County Farm

ALBANY, NY—(08/23/2005; 1200)(EIS)—New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan today announced that DEC has commenced enforcement action against Marks Dairy Farm, Inc. in Lowville, Lewis County for a large liquid manure spill that occurred at the facility on August 10, 2005. The alleged violations were detailed in a Notice of Violation (NOV) delivered to the facility owners on Friday, August 19, 2005 and include water quality violations and violations of the terms and conditions of the facility’s Controlled Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) Permit.

“DEC takes incidents of this kind very seriously and will remain vigilant in our efforts to uphold our important environmental regulations,” Commissioner Sheehan said. “There were very serious environmental impacts from this incident, and DEC’s enforcement efforts will help ensure that this does not happen again in the future and that the terms and conditions of the CAFO permit are upheld to protect public health and the environment. New York State was one of the first states in the nation to develop a permit for CAFO facilities and our CAFO monitoring and oversight program is among the strongest programs of its kind.”

The NOV cites alleged violations of New York State Environmental Conservation Law and includes:

-- Violations of water quality standards, punishable by a maximum of $37,500 for each violation each day that the violations occurred;

-- Violations of the facility’s CAFO permit conditions, punishable by a maximum fine of $37,500 for each violation for each day that the violations occurred;

-- A Discharge into the waters of the State without a DEC permit, punishable by a maximum fine of $37,500 for each day that the violation occurred; and

-- Release of materials that were injurious to fish, punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000 per offense plus an additional penalty of ten dollars for each fish killed.

DEC’s investigation into the spill is continuing and more charges are possible in the future. Following Marks Farm’s receipt of the NOV, DEC will work to resolve the outstanding violations and fines with the facility owners and bring the facility into compliance with all environmental regulations and standards.

The spill occurred earlier this month when several million gallons of manure being stored at the large dairy farm operation emptied into an adjacent field and moved through a drainage ditch into the Black River. The spill led to a strong drop in dissolved oxygen levels in the water. Thousands of fish were killed as a result. DEC is continuing the investigation and finalizing the number of fish believed to have been killed, but current estimates indicate that between 200,000 to 250,000 fish were killed.

DEC worked with the State Department of Health (DOH), the County Soil and Water Conservation District, local officials and the State Department of Agriculture and Markets to help investigate the circumstances of the spill, count the fish killed, monitor the water quality and dilute the manure plume. Water quality sampling efforts show marked improvement in the river’s overall water quality since the spill occurred. DEC’s investigation into the remaining fish population in the areas affected by the spill show that many young fish and macroinvertebrates survived the spill, keeping the ecological basis for that stretch of the river’s food chain intact.

There are currently 475 medium and 145 large permitted CAFO facilities statewide. DEC was one of the first states in the nation to develop a CAFO permit in 1999. Under the program each large and medium CAFO facility is required to obtain a DEC permit. The permit contains conditions on waste control and management, and it requires submission of a plan for manure storage such as volume limits, location, erosion control, lining standards and structural design standards. The permit also requires that all CAFO facilities complete a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan that is prepared by a certified planner. This plan outlines how each facility will manage manure, wastewater, and other wastes. Each farm must submit an annual report to DEC to address its compliance with both its permit and implementation of its Nutrient Management Plan. Any extensive changes to the facility or the plan, suspected violations of the permit, or public complaints are inspected and reviewed by DEC.

Since 1996, more that $44 million has been committed on a cost-share basis from the 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act and the Environmental Protection Fund for non-point source agricultural projects to help farmers address on-farm water quality challenges around the State.

Assemblyman Jim Hayes August 20, 2005
5555 Main Street
Williamsville, NY 14221

Dear Assemblyman Hayes:

While vacationing in the Adirondacks this July we came across a large dairy farm called Mark’s Farm in Lowville, NY.  It didn’t look like any farm we had ever seen.  It consistent of a series of very large sheds, apparently housing thousands of dairy cows which obviously were never permitted outside.  This “farmâ€? (I put it in quotes because it was more of a factory than a farm) was partially surrounded by a large dike or dam which we deduced held all the manure.  The dike appeared to be at least ten or fifteen feet high and the area behind it looked like it might be equal to a football field.  The smell of manure permeated the landscape for well over a mile downwind.

Having seen this facility and having remarked at the time that we were glad we weren’t human neighbors or cows, we were struck this week by a news story that the manure containment dam at Mark’s Farm broke and that 3 million gallons of liquid cow manure poured into the adjacent Black River, killing many thousands of fish and threatening the water supply of towns downstream at least as far away as Watertown.  For the record, the Black River is, or was, a picturesque river which winds through beautiful countryside.  It has now been turned into a toilet or cesspool.  See enclosed article from the August 15, 2005, New York Times about this environmental catastrophe.

I bring all of this to your attention because I wonder if the State Legislature has dealt in any way with what the Sierra Club calls CAFOs or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.  These are giant factory farms which are blighting the landscape across the U.S., posing environmental threats, making neighbors’ properties unlivable and worthless because of the stench, and raising question about humane treatment of animals.  For more discussion, please see: http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/

This spill in Lowville was a disaster waiting to happen.  Do we really want “farmsâ€? with ten or fifteen foot high dikes holding back millions of gallons of animal feces?  Incidentally, you might wonder what eventually happens to the manure when all goes as planned (as opposed to by accident).  The manure is eventually trucked off the premises in tankers and then sprayed on farm fields.  The problem is that there is way too much manure to do that sustainably.  Inevitable too much manure is spread and it contaminates local ground water and runs off into creeks and rivers, increasing their nitrogen content and polluting them.  Its called non-point source pollution and I am certain the DEC will confirm that it is a big problem especially at CAFOs like Mark’s Farm.

Please let me know how the legislature is addressing this issue.  Thanks!

Sincerely,

Walter Simpson

2 more welfare payments to CAFOs. Why shouldn’t they pay the cost of doing business?
Let’s take CAFO’s off the public welfare rolls.

Sunny Knoll Farms and Emerling Farms are building what are called manure digesters. Manure will be heated to about 100 degrees, causing it to break down and release a mostly methane biogas that will run generators.
The process is expected to produce a less smelly manure that still can be applied to fields.
Both farms received more than $500,000 in government grants to help pay for the projects.

And they will still pollute the environment.
It isn’t just the manure that stinks.

A review of modern dairy practices by Farm Sanctuary concluded that the industry has moved toward more intensive production at the expense of animal welfare. Production is being consolidated in mega-dairies with hundreds or thousands of cows, while the total number of farms is half what it was in 1991. Milk production per cow is 66 percent higher than it was 30 years ago, and cows are sent to slaughter after only 3-4 lactation cycles, despite a potential 20-year lifespan. Most cows do not have access to pasture. Practices including tail cutting and rough handling, and conditions like lameness and mastitis (infected udder) are common

Union of Concerned Scientists

Another accident waiting to happen!
Neighbor reports farm has already had 2 spills.

We have the same problem here. The small Lagoon may have some clay in it,but there is also alot of sand and gravel. If the small Lagoon is built that way how is the large Lagoon on the main farm built?

An official from the Building Board of the Town of Porter told us that the small lagoon was built of clay and there would be no problems with it. If you look at the pictures of the lagoon there isn’t much red clay. There has yet to be one Porter offical to physically go back and inspect the site.

The part that scares me is that Flevie has already had two fish kills. Neither one of them was because of a major break down. What would happen if a wall blew out. It would destroy this lake in less than one hour

Official: Manure Pit Had ‘Obvious Problems’
Tuesday, August 16, 2005, 3:47pm
An official with the Jefferson County Soil And Water Conservation District says a manure pit that broke open had “obvious problems.”

Brian Wohnsiedler, the executive director of the district, spent six hours on the Marks farm in Lewis County last Friday, the day after the spill.

“There were certain obvious problems with that structure,” Wohnsiedler told 7 News.

Three million gallons of liquid manure gushed out of the pit, poisoning thousands of fish in the Black River and prompting continuing warnings to avoid drinking from the Black River.

Wohnsiedler works with farmers every day, and says liquid manure - and storage pits - are an important, necessary part of modern farming.

“This was an exception,” he said.

Our reporter on the story, Jessica Layton, tried repeatedly to reach the Marks farm for comment Tuesday, but was not successful.

In particular, Wohnsiedler says the manure pit that broke was not made from the material commonly used for such pits - clay.

“The storage structure was not made of a clay material that we would typically see in earthen storage structures. It was made out of a sand structure.”

Wohnsiedler said every farm that feeds 200 or more animals and stores manure has to meet federal standards that have been adopted by New York State.

He said he can only assume the problems with the manure pit were overlooked, not intentional.

“I don’t think anybody would knowingly take that type of risk, to have a manure storage structure of that size constructed out of a material that just is not suitable to contain the sheer volume and mass of manure that it held.”

The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for regulating the manure pits, and is investigating the spill.
WWNY-TV

The following letter appeared in the Syracuse Post Standard

The killing of an estimated hundreds of thousands of fish by a massive spill of cow manure in Lowville, N.Y. is an environmental consequence of factory farming.

Marks Farms, with over 1700 cows, qualifies as a factory. Every day, this one industrial farm produces more than three times the amount of excreta produced by the people of Syracuse. They make their money by externalizing to the community much of the cost of dealing with this waste.

In 2000, the Natural Resources Defense Council released a report called “Spills and Kills� which documented improper land application of manure, spills and leaks from manure storage pits, and intentional manure dumping in 10 mid-western states. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, 60% of river miles, 50% of lake access and 34% of estuary acres are degraded by agriculture pollution, mostly from factory farms.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reports that manure from factory farms is among the common causes for fish kills in New York State. In April 1999, as much as 100,000 gallons of manure spilled into a creek in Rushford NY, killing trout and contaminating the drinking water supply. The Danielewicz factory farm, in Wilson, which is across the road from Lake Ontario, was responsible for a fish kill in a local campground pond in 2001. In 2003, approximately 1500 fish were killed in 12 Mile Creek by leacheate from a bunker silo at the Danielewicz farm. In 2002 a Citizen’s Statewide Lake Assessment conducted in Cayuga Lake reported that fishing in the lake is degraded and fish propagation is impaired, as a result of excess nutrients and silt and sediment particularly in the southern end of the lake where there are numerous factory farms.

Liquid manure is stored in large open, usually unlined pits, which can leak or spill, thus contaminating local watersheds and endangering human health. These manure storage lagoons can contain a witch’s brew of poisons, including pathogenic microbes, biocides, pesticides, disinfectants, animal food additives, heavy metals, antibiotics, hormones and other materials.

Factory farms endanger our health, drive out responsible farmers, and pollute our air and water. It is long past time for New York State agencies to regulate corporate livestock factories. The Sierra Club Farm & Food Committee calls for an immediate moratorium on the New York state issuance of permits for new facilities, until the DEC implements a plan requiring industrial livestock facilities to conform to the rules of the federal Clean Water Act.

Farm & Food Committee
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
http://www.newyork.sierraclub.org/conservation/agriculture/index.html

See photos:
http://wwnytv.net/72k/
News article:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1123836122183900.xml&coll=1

08/11/2005
Agency will not sell land to chicken farmers
By Patrick Abdalla

OWEGO, N.Y. - The Tioga County, N.Y., Industrial Development Agency voted Monday not to sell its property to a Canadian family that is looking to bring a chicken farm into the county.
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The agency’s board voted unanimously, with several members saying the move would be unwise because the land could be better used. Doug Barton, the county’s director of Economic Planning and Development said the family is still interested in bringing the farm to the county, and that the decision means the department will have no influence on where the farm will go.
“My feeling is the site is a premiere site and this is a poor utilization of the site,” said board member William Caloruso.
The Drost family is looking to expand its chicken farming operation from Ontario to the county. After looking into purchasing land in Barton, N.Y., the company is now interested in part of the agency’s land next to the Best Buy warehouse in Nichols, N.Y.
Several members of the boards for the town and village of Nichols told the agency they did not feel the farm belonged at the site. Town Supervisor James Branston said the town is on record as saying they did not support sale of the land.
Legislator William Oberbeck spoke on behalf of the county legislature saying the farming operation was not the best use of the site.
Several Barton residents have been vocal on the issue, holding a meeting in which one of the town’s farmers, Donald Foster, agreed to purchase the property owned by Ralph Porter that the farmers were interested in.
They argue the farm would be a hazard to the local environment and lead to a reduction in property values, as well as have strong odors.
During the Tioga County Economic Development and Planning Department meeting last week, department deputy director Jeffrey Stokes, Barton, and Soil and Water District Conservation Director Wendy Walsh discussed their visit to the Drost family’s operations in the town of Beamsville - a suburb of Toronto.
They said there was no overpowering smell emanating from the building and that a new school and housing development are being constructed on nearby property. Department Director Doug Barton was also on the trip.
Towanda Daily News
Towanda, Pa

Tuesday, August 2, 2005 12:08 PM CDT
Action group pushes for ammonia standard around confinement buildings
DES MOINES (AP) --- A community advocacy group is calling for immediate changes to the state’s air quality laws because of high ammonia levels recorded near nine factory farms.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement said in a news release issued today emissions measured over six months by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources exceeded the safe-health level recommended by scientists at two Iowa universities.

“These ammonia readings show there is a real problem with factory farm air pollution,” said Rosie Partridge, a member of Sac County Citizens for Community Improvement.

According to the organization, the DNR monitored air quality near large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations at 11 sites. The agency reported 69 days at nine sites that exceeded ammonia levels of 150 parts per billion, the level recommended as the safe-health standard by the University of Iowa and Iowa State University in a 2002 study that has been a subject of controversy between environmental and industry groups.

The nine sites were near Belmond, Goldfield, Iowa Falls, Jewell, Stanhope, Clarion, Newkirk and West Union.

The DNR’s field study, available on the agency’s Web site, said the highest hourly averages since June were at operations in Hamilton County, where an Iowa Select farm measured 721 ppb and another Hamilton County farm, which measured 523 ppb.

The state has a recommended standard for hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas released from animal confinements, but not for ammonia, said Brian Button, air information specialist for the DNR. Environmental groups have argued a link exists between such gases and human health problems.

“It’s time our state does more than just monitor. We need clean air rules for ammonia now,” Partridge said.

Button said the agency has taken ammonia readings, under the directive of state legislators, for a couple of years.

“It’s just part of our rural air study that we’ve been doing,” he said, adding the studies measure hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and odor combinations.

The Legislature is expected to take up the issue again once the DNR’s study is complete.
WCF Courier
Cedar Valley Iowa

06/02/2005
Barton, N.Y., residents dodge chicken farm
By Patrick Abdalla

BARTON, N.Y. - Local residents in the Town of Barton appear to have stopped a chicken farm from coming into town.

At a meeting held by concerned citizens, attended by more than 60 residents voicing concerns over the farm coming to the area, two residents announced they had a possible answer to the problem. Donald Foster said he would purchase the property the chicken farmers were interested in that was owned by Ralph Porter.
“We dodged a bullet but there could be another one in the gun,” said Tioga County Legislator Dale Weston, who was in attendance along with Town of Barton Supervisor William Hotchkiss. Weston said that just because the family might not be moving to that site it could find another local place to open up. Weston said the town should look into zoning or having a moratorium on the farms.
Local realtor Tom Mullen told the residents he had been contacted by the family of Peter Drost, who owned the chicken farm.
“If they’re not welcome, they won’t come,” Mullen said of the Drost family.
Several residents expressed concern over the fact that Weston and Hotchkiss said they did not know about the project that the county’s Department of Economic Development and Planning had been working on.
Hotchkiss said he felt the whole thing was underhanded.
Weston said the only part the county had in the process was trying to bring in the business. According to Weston, the county cannot regulate what businesses are coming in, but that it is the town’s decision whether to have zoning or not.
Hotchkiss said he had not known about the farmer’s intention until the last couple of days.
“We were in the dark,” he said.

Tioga weighs chicken farm proposal

Nichols site studied for large-scale operation

BY DEBBIE SWARTZ
Press & Sun-Bulletin
Find similar archived stories..
NICHOLS - The Drost family, owners of chicken farms in Ontario, are considering building a chicken farm in Nichols, now that a site in Barton has been ruled out.

Nichols Deputy Town Supervisor Kenneth Snowden said he is concerned about the environmental impact of a chicken farm. He said he fears one might move to the area, pollute the ground and water and then leave.

“It’s not just a business deal for the people that live here,” Snowden said.

Joe Patituce and Barry Davis of Barton said they are thankful the farm won’t be built near them, but are concerned about environmental and quality of life issues.

Doug Barton, director of the Tioga County Department of Economic Development and Planning, said his department has been approached by the Drost family to speak to the county’s Industrial Development Agency, which owns a Town of Nichols parcel the family is interested in. They are looking at a site on Berry Road, near the Best Buywarehouse off Route 17.

The IDA is scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss the issue. Barton said the price of the property has not been discussed.

For several months, the county Department of Economic Development and Planning and legislators have discussed an anonymous company’s desire to open a chicken farm in the county.

A preliminary report by the county’s Environmental Management Council said the company was seeking about seven acres on which to build four one-story barns.

Each barn would house 45,000 chickens from infancy until about 7 weeks of age, when they would be shipped alive to New York City markets.

The chickens would undergo random blood tests to look for diseases and would be fed organic feed with no added growth hormones.

Barton, Deputy Director Jeffrey Stoke, and Wendy Walsh, the district manager for the county’s Soil and Water Conservation District, created a presentation after visiting four Drost chicken farms and a fifth facility under construction. Snowden, Patituce and Davis attended.

Stoke said the farms in Canada were clean and free of outside manure holding tanks. There was an odor at each facility, he said, but it was not too pungent.

“Most of the dairy farms in Tioga County smell worse,” he said.

Stoke and Barton said the barns are located next to various new housing developments which feature $200,000 homes. One Ontario farm, built in 1962, neighbors a new multimillion-dollar school.

Once an entire barn of mature chickens are loaded into a truck, Stoke said, the barn floor would be cleaned and sterilized. He said he expects the manure to be sold to local wineries, like it is at the Canadian facilities. About four times per year, Stoke said, the barn would be power washed with water. He said he wasn’t sure where the water from the power wash went, and said no water or soil samples were taken from the Canadian properties.

Snowden said he would like to see soil and water samples taken from those facilities and analyzed.

Diane Carlton, of the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation, said a farm with 180,000 chickens would qualify as a large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, which would require the hiring of a certified environmental planner. That person would be required to file an annual compliance report which would include information such as runoff, wastewater and manure. Unless a serious violation was reported, she said, no one from the DEC would physically check the facility.

© 2005 Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Third felony warrant issued in Wegmans Egg Farm case

Corydon Ireland
Staff writer

(August 5, 2005) — An arrest warrant has been issued by the State
Police for Megan Cosgrove, a one-time Rochester resident. She was one
of three animal rights activists who last summer paid three
unauthorized visits to the Wegmans Egg Farm, a 750,000-hen operation
in Wolcott, Wayne County.

The out-of-state resident will surrender voluntarily early next week,
said State Police Investigator Frank Daurizio.

Two other activists were arraigned this afternoon in Wolcott Town
Court, posted cash bail of $1,000 each and were released on their own
recognizance.

“It was an interesting experience, being arrested,” said Adam Durand,
25, one of the activists. “Everyone was polite and we were, too.”

The three activists are charged with third-degree burglary, a felony
that carries a penalty of up to seven years in jail.

Appearing in court today were Durand, a packaging designer from
Rochester, and Melanie Ippolito, 21, a massage therapy student, also
from Rochester.

Durand, who videotaped the three visits, said he and the two others
took nine injured hens from the Wadsworth Road facility, the largest
egg farm in New York. Two died soon after.

He said they wore masks and latex gloves and entered at least three
sheds at the facility in freshly laundered clothes, aware that
confined flocks of birds are vulnerable to avian flu and other
diseases brought from outside.

Wegmans Food Markets Inc. spokeswoman Jo Natale declined to comment on
the impending arrests, and referred all questions to the State Police.
“That will continue to be the case, now that this is a criminal
matter,” she said.

All three activists are members of a Rochester animal rights group
called Compassionate Consumers. On July 3, the group released its
video documentary of the visits, “Wegmans Cruelty.”

Two thousand copies of the video have been downloaded from the
Compassionate Consumers Web site, a process that takes at least two
hours each time, said group spokeswoman Jodi Chemes. Another 1,100
have been sold or given away free, she said.

“It should be Wegmans being charged, not Mel and Adam,” said Chemes, a
Rochester tax accountant who claims she was fired from her job in July
for her animal rights activism.

The 30-minute documentary intersperses graphic footage of injured and
trapped hens with interviews with activists and stock footage of
Wegmans officials.

Natale, recorded by Durand during a phone conversation last year, is
an unwitting narrator in part of the film.

The video shows rows of stacked battery cages, each the size of a file
drawer — a standard arrangement at the 200-plus large-scale U.S. egg
farms. It also shows the activists taking dead birds from cages.

There will be mortality among so many hens — though at rates much
lower than at farms where hens roam free and are vulnerable to
predators, said Dr. Benjamin Lucio-Martinez.

The Cornell University veterinarian, not employed by Wegmans, inspects
chickens at that company’s farm every 8 or 10 weeks when they are
shipped away for slaughter. He called the big facility “among the best
in the country” for its treatment of the animals.

“I’ve seen this evolve,” said Lucio-Martinez, a 50-year researcher and
observer of egg operations. “You’d have to go back to the ‘30s for
birds that are not in cages.”

Activists say that housing birds in battery cages, now banned in
Europe, and other egg industry practices are cruel — and that U.S. law
should be revised to reflect that. In nature, Durand and others said,
hens are social creatures used to open air, sunshine, dust baths and
foraging for food.

The hens taken from the Wegmans farm are worth less than $1.50 each,
said Chemes — making the charges more of an industry power play than a
reflection of reality, she said.

“It would be preposterous to send us to prison for taking chickens,”
Durand said.

The activists said they anticipated legal action, and have never tried
to hide their identities, acts or intentions in raiding the egg farm.

Ippolito and Durand both spoke Monday evening at the first public
screening of “Wegmans Cruelty,” in Brighton Town Hall, freely
answering questions about their participation.

“We’ve been preparing for this for two years,” Durand said later of
the criminal charges. “When you carry out civil disobedience, you
expect there will be penalties for it.”

But the gravity of the charges came as a surprise, he said, expecting
to pay a $75 fine for trespassing.

In legal parlance, trespassing is a “violation,” and has the same
weight as a parking ticket.

“We thought the D.A. in Wayne County didn’t consider us dangerous
criminals,” Durand said of the county’s district attorney, Richard
Healy, who was on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment.

“This is not the crime of the century,” said Healy in an interview
last month. He added then that he had been in conversations with
Wegmans officials on the matter, and asked them: “Do you really want a
trial on this?”

Donald Thompson, the Rochester-based lawyer for the three activists,
said there could be a trial. “That’s the path we’re starting down here.”

Bail likely will be set and “is pretty standard in felony cases,” said
Investigator Daurizio.

At court today, Durand and Ippolito, Chemes said, “are bringing their
checkbooks.”