Iowa Falls-based Iowa Select Farms has submitted 19 applications for new hog confinement facilities in eight Iowa counties. Jess Mazour (mah-ZHURE), a farm and environmental organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, says the group’s members are none too happy with the proposed facilities.
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Mazour says Iowa C-C-I is working to rally opponents of the various projects to speak out.
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Jen Sorensen, a spokeswoman for Iowa Select Farms, says the facilities are to be located in Hamilton, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Humboldt, Franklin, Palo Alto and Bremer counties. She says the 19 proposed sites will add nearly 90,000 hogs to their operations. Sorenson says it’s an “exciting time” in the pork industry.
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Sorensen says the hog confinement sites in north-central Iowa will not have an impact with the Prestage Foods plant under construction in southern Wright County. She disputes claims from Iowa C-C-I about manure spills at the company’s facilities in Iowa.