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Heather McIlvaine-Newsad - December 16

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wium/local-wium-997281.mp3

Macomb, IL – For the second time in six months a proposal for the construction of a hog confinement in McDonough County has resulted in an Illinois Department of Agriculture public hearing. The meeting took place on Monday, December 5 and lasted a record six hours.

At their next meeting on December 21, members of the McDonough County Board will discuss their non-binding recommendation which must be submitted to the ag department by January 19.

If you have listened to any of my past commentaries on this subject you know that I am against the construction of CAFOs in our county. The question facing us now is what should our community leaders do?

Proponents argue that the CAFOs will be profitable not only for the corporate owners, but also for the county. And in this economic climate, who doesn't want to make money?

"However," John Ikerd writes, "Wanting to do something is different from being allowed to do something. Contrary to popular belief, society does not have to allow something just because someone thinks it will make a buck."

The Macomb City Council recently proved this point when it acted with extreme swiftness in creating a zoning ordinance that would not allow adult entertainment clubs within the city limits. There is no doubt that these ventures would have been profitable, but our elected officials decided they would not be in the best interest of the community.

As Ikerd writes, "A civilized society doesn't allow things that are detrimental to the well-being of society, even if those things might be profitable for individuals."

I know that many people are against rural zoning because they argue that zoning violates private property rights. Those who oppose zoning often focus on the argument that government is "taking" away or reducing the economic value of private property without compensation.

However, Ikerd further notes, " ... something cannot be taken away if it never existed in the first place. The right to private property has never included the right to use property in a way that devalues the properties of one's neighbors or diminishes the overall quality of life in the community. All private property owners have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of their property and no one has a right to use his or her property in a way that deprives his or her neighbors of that right.

"This principle was established in English Common Law, long before the US was a nation. CAFOs clearly have the capability of denying the rights of their neighbors, as was validated by a recent court judgment awarding more than $4 million in damages to neighbors of Premium Standard's CAFOs [in] Missouri. People in rural areas have every right to prevent CAFO[s] from 'taking' the economic and aesthetic value of their property."

Zoning laws are constitutional and do restrict the use of private property. My husband and I own a house and land in Macomb. I can't subdivide our lot into smaller parcels and can't let our untreated sewage run directly into the sewers on the street, no matter how profitable it might be for me to do so. These same rules and regulations apply to my neighbors and prevent them from doing anything that diminishes my property value or my quality of life.

Look, there are a lot of us on the planet, 7 billion plus, and we live right next door to each other. Farmers used to be able to use their land any way they chose because there was no one else around to be adversely affected. Farmers still have the same property rights but they no longer live alone on the frontier.

It's time to make a legal distinction between family farms and industrial agriculture; the two are fundamentally different in philosophy, purpose, scope and have very different impacts on the natural environment and local communities.

All farms create wastes that can cause odors and pollute streams, but large CAFOs can fill the air with stench for miles downwind and generate more biological waste than do some small cities. Family farms help build rural communities; CAFOs pit farmer against farmer and neighbor against neighbor.

Our elected officials should do what is good for the entire community, not just a select few.

Heather McIlvaine-Newsad is a Professor of Anthropology at Western Illinois University. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of WIU or Tri States Public Radio