A proposed poultry farm ruffling the feathers of some residents in the Sister Lakes community has been approved.
This week, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) determined Silver Creek Poultry, LLC has a suitable site to operate a commercial poultry farm at 51501 Bakeman Road in Dowagiac, according to a document on the MDARD website.
Property owner Joel Layman, who also owns a 2,200-acre organic farm operation in Berrien Center, applied through the MDARD Right to Farm Program on March 1. The application was approved May 8.
According to the application, Layman plans to have 45,000 chickens, four poultry barns and two manure storage structures on the property. There will be 11,250 egg layers per barn, which will each be 42 by 500 feet in size. The two manure buildings will be 60 by 60 feet.
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Right to Farm
In March, residents flocked to Silver Creek Township Hall to voice concerns including the potential smell of manure, noise disturbances, property values declining, health hazards to drinking water and health of the surrounding lakes and rivers.
On Wednesday, residents returned to voice additional concerns, as well as to hear a presentation on Right to Farm by MSU Extension educator Tyler Augst.
Augst said Right To Farm is a program that essentially shields farmers from both “nuisance” lawsuits and supersedes local ordinances, as long as the farm adheres to Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices (GAAMPs).
In response to trustee and community questions, Augst said GAAMPs – which include regulations on care of farm animals, manure management and odor control for livestock facilities – should mitigate nuisance concerns brought up by residents.
With the site approved, residents within .5 miles of the proposed livestock facility or Silver Creek Township itself is permitted to submit an appeal to the site suitability decision by June 8. The request to appeal must identify with specificity the section or requirement in the Site Selection GAAMPs that the requestor believes MDARD failed to or improperly applied when it made its site suitability determination.
The request for appeal must include relevant facts, data, analysis, and supporting documentation for the appellant’s position. Decisions on requests to appeal will be made within 14 days after the closure of the 30-day window.
Augst said Right to Farm allows for citizen complaints as long as they are related to the GAAMPs listed as part of the program. Other complaints regarding water quality and other environmental fallout from a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation will have to be directed toward the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Augst said.
Public Comment
Prior to public comment Supervisor Mick Braman said the township has not received official word from the state regarding approval of the farm, and read a prepared statement:
“There is a lot of emotion, I know, in this room tonight relative to the proposed poultry farm. Please be civil with your neighbors, with your comments and interaction with other people out here.
And for those of you who have threatened me and my home, uh, I’m gonna ask you to quit. It’s not productive. Any future threats will be adjudicated by the Cass County Sheriff’s Department. It’s not right. It’s not fair. It’s not going to happen.
Most of the public commenters reiterated concerns raised during the March meeting, with one exception – a defense of the farm from township resident John Nelson.
He commented, among other things, yard signs put up by a group of residents opposed to the farm. The signs read “Family farms not factory farms in our community.” Nelson, who said he has been around poultry for 68 years, took exception to the signs:
What does it take to be a family farm? Joel Layman’s family has been farming in Berrien Center for 186 years. Is that not a family farm? His, his father-in-law has been farming in Silver Creek Township, his family for over 150 years. … They farm over 2000 acres. They farm organically. They raise hay, they raise corn, they raise rye, grain beans, peas, squash, and the reason why they have storage buildings for the manure is because they can only spread it when they don’t have crops on the field.
He also commented on concerns about urine smell and contamination in the areas surrounding the former gravel pit.
“Poultry, pigeons, quail, pheasants, turkeys – their urine is not wet urine like a dog,” Nelson said. “I would say accurately, if you have a dog, your dog will pollute more groundwater in one week, peeing in your yard than 45,000 chickens will do in these contained buildings. … I just wanted to get people a little education. It’s a very good repurpose of the use of a wasteland to bring it back to productive farming.”
For more information on Right to Farm, click here. To contact Right to Farm, call (877) 632-1783. To learn more about EGLE, click here. To contact the Kalamazoo EGLE district, call (269) 567-3500. For more information on the opposition to the farm, visit protectsisterlakes.com.
To read our previous reporting on this issue, click here.
By Ryan Yuenger
ryany@wsjm.com
