When Charles Hocker built his confinement buildings west of here in 1979 and 1984, he just built them no questions asked. Times have changed, though. If I were going to expand now, the first thing I'd do is sit down with my neighbor and let him know what I wanted to do,'' he says. Hocker says expansion of the pork industry was taken matter of factly in the 1970s and early 1980s. Nowadays, neighbor relations are a priority of Iowa pork producers.
Odors can bring about an unwanted, costly nuisance lawsuit.
General opposition from neighbors has delayed expansion by some producers and caused others to abandon proposed sites for expansion. Hocker says neighbors have a right to be concerned about how business is conducted in hog operations around them, but he's worried today's opposition to raising hogs has gone beyond reason and might eventually damage the state's entire economy. This whole thing is in the news every day, and people fear it probably more than they need to,'' says Hocker. Much of the opposition to hog industry expansion has arisen in the name of environmental protection. In response, the Iowa Legislature last year passed House File 519, a set of regulations governing confinement livestock operations.