Dear Winona County Board of Adjustment,
I agree with the recommendation of the Winona County Staff that the County’s Board of Adjustment deny the request of Daley Farms for an exception to the County rule limiting feedlot size. The Daley Farms operation of 2,275 animal units already exceeds the allowed 1,500 animal units! Now Daley Farms wants to expand to 4 times the established limit!
The proposed expansion of Daley Farms, which is already noncompliant, goes against county zoning ordinance governing the size of feedlots. The law was implemented with a great deal of thought and exceptions should not be made for economic advancement of a few, particularly at a risk to water, which is the first requirement for life itself.
Expansion of the dairy would further contaminate the region’s water supply to unacceptable levels, as current levels are barely acceptable or even unacceptable already. The risks of the expansion clearly outweigh the benefits.
As an experienced and accomplished doctorate level scientist (Ph.D. Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, 1997), I agree that an in-depth Environmental Impact Statement is needed of Daley Farms’ current and past burden on the environment, let alone consideration of expansion to four times the established limit.
Allowing the proposed expansion is scientifically unsound and would pose unacceptable risk and harm to our natural resources that can adversely affect countless individuals in and beyond your county including myself and others who have been eating beef from a nearby farm for a long time. Cheating comes at a price we can no longer afford.
I have no conflicts of interest unlike many of those involved in this decision.
Sincerely,
Dr. Marie Kube, Ph.D.
The Winona County Board of Adjustment voted 3-2 to deny the Daley’s permit request. The Daleys are already starting an appeal.
On December 2, 2021, Winona County officials again denied another attempt by Daley Farms to “blow by the animal unit cap and basically rewrite the ordinance,” as reported by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP). “It’s time to stop wasting public dollars and time on the “get big or get out” model of agriculture and instead invest in farming systems that create prosperous, sustainable communities while protecting our land and water,” the LSP posted on Facebook today. Well said, LSP! In Winona County and elsewhere, LSP will continue to stand together to support our communities, farmers, land, and water and to say “no” to the expansion of factory farms. I, personally, have already given up eating any dairy. If I ever crave ice cream, I just think of the smell of the factory farms and lose my appetite.