Two meetings in southwest Wisconsin should draw interest this week.
A public hearing will be held tonight at 7 p.m. on the first concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) permit application in Crawford County . The hearing will be held at the Crawford County Administration Building in Prairie du Chien.
Crawford Stewardship Project (CSP) reminds Crawford County and neighboring county citizens and landowners that attendance is crucial. “This is our only chance to officially voice our opinion and show our concerns on the health and safety issues,” said Edie Ehlert, Coordinator of CSP.
Written comments are also accepted by the county. CSP is an organization of Crawford County citizens who are working to oppose CAFOs, based on documented health and safety concerns. The American Public Health Association has come out in support of a national moratorium on all CAFOs due to these same concerns, according to CSP officials.
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The permit application is made by a sow farrowing operation along the Lower Wisconsin River Wildlife Area and on Boydtown Creek, east of Wauzeka. The application is requesting to expand to 2,900 sows and build a CAFO. This permit is in the approval or disapproval process now at the county committee level.
“We can expect what the industry calls ‘pods of 10’ application permits in Crawford and neighboring counties,” said Jennifer Nelson of CSP. “These industrialized operations want to move semi-trucks of feed and animals ‘efficiently’ in an area, thus requiring multiple operations.”
According to CSP, three recent township surveys in Crawford County showed approximately 90% of those responding support agriculture and 80% oppose or want to limit CAFOs.
A permit for a similar hog operation in the Vernon County sparked controversy over the summer. At the time, opponents to the 2,500 hog operation said Western Wisconsin would see more applications in the future.
Operators of the hog operations argue their proposals fall within state regulations for such farming. They also contend that CAFOs can be found elsewhere in Western Wisconsin and throughout the state.
Two days after the hog farm hearing, on Wednesday, Nov. 28, a meeting will be held at the Viroqua campus of the Western Wisconsin Technical College. State Senator Dan Kapanke is organizing the meeting as a planning session for a Western Wisconsin Women’s Entrepreneurial Forum, to be held somewhere in Western Wisconsin.
According to a press release, a Women’s Entrepreneurial Forum would bring women from Western Wisconsin who are interested in starting their own businesses together with existing women entrepreneurs and business owners.
Topics such as available services, networking ideas, financial investments and others could be discussed in such a forum, according to organizers.
Similar planning meetings will be held in La Crosse and Prairie du Chien. The location of the forum has not yet been chosen.
Those organizers hope such a forum could be held some time in 2008. Wednesday’s meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Room 115 of the Viroqua campus building. For more information on the organizational meeting, call 1-800-385-3385.
