The Dunn County Board last night passed a six month moratorium on CAFO expansion of more than 10% on farms of over 1000 animals in the county. This is in response to a very large expansion of Cranberry Creek Farm planned for the county, and was prompted by many questions raised about the ability of the farm owners to manage runoff, and some serious issues with the application and the ability of the DNR to properly consider the issues in awarding a permit. The permit is for an expansion of up to 7150 animals.
This is a very unusual step, and was largely brought about through the joint efforts of the Citizen Action Western Wisconsin Organizing Co-op and a very large number of concerned farm neighbors. I want to be clear that this is not by any means an anti-farming measure, but is an attempt to pull these large CAFO expansions to a halt in the county until such time that more effective regulation can be put into place.
I hope to have more detail on the wording of the moratorium, etc. later, but for the time being I'd like to ask that people in the western part of the state consider joining the Western Wisconsin Organizing Co-op - this has just been one of the most recent effective actions that the co-op has helped to organize. If you want more details or want to commit to being a member go to the Citizen Action web site at http://www.citizenactionwi.org/contribution_optionsec