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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Ind. Gov't. - "Blackford officials, state end farm feud"
"Blackford officials, state end farm feud" is the headline to a story today in the Muncie Star-Press about how:
Andrew Miller, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, attended the Blackford County commissioners meeting on Monday in an attempt to mend fences after his office had earlier released correspondence that might have suggested Blackford County was anti-agriculture.The correspondence had been released shortly after a proposed confined animal feeding operation was denied a zoning permit.
The county's three commissioners --two of whom are farmers -- assured Miller emphatically that Blackford County is indeed farmer-friendly.
"A simple five-minute phone call to one of us would have prevented all of this," Commissioner Fred Walker told Miller. * * *
After Monday's meeting, Miller said his department had "moderated our tactics and the meeting this morning was part of that."
After the meeting, Walker said he hoped that Miller "understands where we're coming from, that he knows we are not opposed to CAFOs in this county. But we have issues on locations of those CAFOs.
"The commissioners have been very supportive of agriculture in the past and will continue to be in the future. But we realize that issues will come up in the future that have to be addressed with discussion from both sides."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 22, 2005 07:02 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana economic development