Below are highlights from a summary article published on Hoard’s Dairyman on September 16, 2019.
ATCP 51 is the administrative rule implementing the state’s livestock siting law governing the approval process local governments must follow if they choose to regulate construction of livestock facilities. While conducting a required periodic review of the rule, staff at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection proposed the revisions, which were the subject of recent public hearings. The DATCP Board is scheduled to get an update on the hearings at a meeting Sept. 19.
A wave of people spoke against the rule changes at the public hearings across the state.
“The livestock facility siting law helped our dairy community stabilize and grow after years of decline. It also gave local governments a useful tool to regulate these facilities. The current law is working. The changes would undermine the rule’s effectiveness, hurt Wisconsin farmers and send the message that we don’t want modern dairy farms in our state.
— Tom Crave, president, Dairy Business Association
“The DATCP Board should reject the staff recommended revisions to ATCP 51. The 2004 livestock siting law was the result of months of negotiation among livestock agriculture, the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Towns Association. The end result was a compromise with bipartisan support. DATCP staff ignored suggestions from livestock agriculture and instead is proposing to put existing CAFO operations at significant financial risk at a time they can least afford.”
— Cindy Leitner, president, Wisconsin Dairy Alliance
Wisconsin’s livestock siting law, signed in 2004, provides consistent, statewide standards and procedures for local governments to regulate the construction of new or expanding livestock facilities over a certain size if they choose to do so.
Rules to implement the law were written by the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Those rules became known as ATCP 51 and took effect in 2006. They set standards for siting new facilities in areas of the state zoned for agricultural uses, and on livestock operations expected to house more than 500 animal units. (An animal unit is defined as 1,000 pounds of animal weight. So, while a single grown cow would be considered more than one animal unit, it would take a small flock of chickens to equate one animal unit.)
The rules do not require that all livestock facilities be sited. Instead, for local government units that choose to regulate construction of livestock facilities, it creates consistent standards that must be used in approving or denying applications.
Read the article in its entirety at https://hoards.com/article-26296-state-groups-call-for-halt-to-livestock-farm-siting-rule-changes.html
