Friends of Rural New York

Or- how you will learn to love your chicken CAFO

09/23/2005
State, county agencies address chicken farm concerns in Nichols
By Aaron Cahall

LOUNSBERRY, N.Y. - Concerns were raised over the potential for groundwater penetration, avian-borne diseases and spreading of manure at a proposed concentrated chicken farm in the Town of Nichols at an informational meeting between residents and state and county agencies Thursday night.

More than 45 people gathered at the Lounsberry United Methodist Church in Lounsberry, and along with town officials were told New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulations would apply to the facility, with additional oversight by the New York State Agriculture and Markets Department and Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation.
The meeting came as town officials prepare for a public hearing next week to discuss a possible nine-month moratorium on concentrated animal farming in the township.
The Drosts, a Canadian family of concentrated animal farmers based in Ontario, recently agreed to purchase property within the town, which the family would use to construct a concentrated chicken facility.
The facility would include five or six barns each measuring 30,000 square feet, and would house between 150,000 and 180,000 chickens, according to Wendy Walsh of Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation.
The large number of animals to be housed at the facility raised a number of concerns with attendees Thursday night, foremost among them the threat of aquifer contamination from animal waste.
Walsh said the operation would be a “closed facility” that would allow no runoff or waste to be released. In the family’s Canadian operation, Walsh said the dry manure left by the animals was cleaned after every six-week cycle of chickens passed through the facility, and was not stored on site, but transported for use at local wineries. Walsh said a similar arrangement with Finger Lakes vineyards may be possible.
Residents questioned whether the farmers could spread manure at the site, and though Walsh said the regulations do allow for such action for operations of certain sizes, pending soil studies, the size of the facility and number of animals would preclude the Nichols farm from doing so.
“They will be required to ship the manure out,” Walsh said. “They don’t have the land base to spread out the amount of waste they’d collect.”
Walsh said each group of chickens would be kept for about six weeks, and then transported by truck from the facility to New York City. The facility would then be cleaned with the dry manure hauled by dump truck from the site and other wastes held in a storage tank.
About one truck per day would run from the facility, Walsh said, and residents questioned whether the trucks would be open-air or enclosed. Walsh said the trucks could be enclosed, but were operated open-air by the farmers in warmer months.
Other concerns voiced by residents included the potential transmission of avian-borne diseases between migratory birds and the chicken population that may affect the workers or residents. Robert Somers, chief of the Agriculture Protection Unit of the New York State Agriculture and Markets Department, said the migratory birds would likely be displaced, as they are with other development projects.
Walsh said the size of the facility placed it under the “large” category of the state DEC’s concentrated animal farming operation regulations, and the farmers would be required to submit a nutrient management plan that would outline the facility’s control of waste and other farmstead issues. Also, she said the farmers will be required to hire a New York-state certified nutrient management planner.
The chicken farm would also be part of Nichols’ agricultural district, Somers said, giving it protection under the state’s 1971 Agricultural Districts Law from unreasonable restrictions placed on it by local laws.
Nichols Town Supervisor James Branston said town officials met with the state and county agriculture officials before the meeting, and said a representative from DEC will be sought to answer questions at a future meeting.
“We did what we needed to do tonight, gather as much information as possible,” Branston said. “We needed to know who would control it, and it looks like it’s DEC.”
A public hearing concerning the possible nine-month town moratorium on concentrated animal farming will be held Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the town offices, Branston said.

©Daily and Sunday Review 2005