Farm controversy next door not an issue in town

Controversy in the Town of Trenton over the expansion of a concentrated animal feeding operation or CAFO, reveals the differences between that community and the neighboring Town of Saukville.

Saukville Town Chairman Kevin Kimmes said Tuesday that according to Saukville town zoning ordinances, it “doesn’t have anything to say at all” on the number of livestock animals for agriculture lots larger than 35 acres.

He noted the town designates CAFOs, as well as actively farmed land, on its comprehensive plan map to ensure the community’s agriculture focus is clear to new and existing residents.

In Trenton, however, a request to expand the Roden Echo Valley Farm CAFO has sparked an uproar from nearby residents concerned about the sights and smells it could generate, as well as from environmental protection organization Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

In a press release, Milwaukee Riverkeeper alleges the expanded manure spreading operation would increase runoff to already polluted streams in the Milwaukee River Watershed. 

Kimmes pushed back on that claim. 

CAFOs are regulated by the Department of Natural Resources, which enforces runoff management and best-practice plans, he said, adding that smaller farms face none of those restrictions.

The manure-spreading plan for the Roden farm includes several lots in the Town of Saukville.

“The Rodens spread manure in the Town of Saukville,” Kimmes said. “I say, ‘Good. How else can we help you?’”

Kimmes said if residents are concerned about CAFOs, they shouldn’t direct their complaints to local governments that usually have little say in the matter.

“If I don’t like things that are happening on a CAFO level, I would be reaching out to the DNR and my state representatives to tighten restrictions on them,” he said.

The different attitudes between Trenton and Saukville toward CAFOs date to a divergence in residential development policy about 30 years ago, Kimmes said.

Whereas around that time Saukville stopped all development past minor property divisions, Trenton emphasized the creation of subdivisions, he said.

While the communities at that point had about equal population numbers, Kimmes said, Trenton now dwarfs Saukville by at least three to one.

“There are three times the voices to scream about commercial farming,” he said.

Kimmes said he would advise residents complaining of commercial farming to remember the land was used for that before it was for homes.

“The Rodens have been here for generations. Who are we to tell them what to do with their business?” he said. “Is the family business a factory farm now? Sure — but otherwise they wouldn’t be profitable.”

The growing expenses of farming means economies of scale are needed to keep up, Kimmes said, and noted that many farms consolidate because farmers age out of the profession without having anyone to pass it on to.

The result, Kimmes said, is the same number of animals but fewer, bigger farms.

“We have to produce milk — we are the number one cheese state for a reason,” he said. “Everyone wants to sit and rip on the farmers in a 70-degree Town Board room. But when it’s 30 degrees and they’re in the barn making sure the animals are all right and the lines aren’t frozen, it isn’t as easy.”