LIMA, Ill. (WGEM) -
The Adams County Board heard a proposal Monday night for an industrial hog facility that could house nearly 5,000 hogs. But that proposal came with sharp opposition from neighbors.
It was standing room only as concerned neighbors and farmers presented questions and concerns to owner Daron Duke and his engineering firm. The meeting lasted hours.
Daron Duke is a fifth generation Adams County farmer who already has crops and cattle, and now he wants to open a five thousand hog confinement operation on his property near Lima.
"They come in here right when they have been weaned and then we feed them to a finished weight at which time they are harvested," he explained.
But some of his neighbors aren't so happy about his plan.
"They are taking the value of my property and giving it to D and B. And I think that's wrong and I think it's unfair," said neighbor Judy Koehler.
"I'm very concerned about the amount of traffic that there's going to be - who's going to pay to fix the roads with all the semis taking the pigs?" said another neighbor.
"Major odor, air pollution, noise pollution," said a third neighbor.
Duke says if his operation is approved, he plans to keep those issues at bay, and will try to be a good neighbor.
"We use modern technologies and the best science available in the construction and the engineering of the buildings, you know this is a totally enclosed system, it's not a lagoon, there will be no runoff - and quality of air will not be a concern," he said.
Taking note of Duke's plans and neighbors' concerns, it's now up to the county board to decide. They will officially vote on a recommendation for the hog operation at their meeting next Tuesday, and that will then be sent to the Department of Agriculture for final approval.
