Sierrans, et al:

With Kendra & Erin on vacation this week, I wanted to forward to you one of
the lead articles this morning in the Des Moines Register concerning CAFOs.

Lyle

--------------------------

Agriculture

Study says hog lots hurt value of property

By STACI HUPP
Register Staff Writer
08/28/2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ames, Ia. - An Iowa State University study offers the hardest evidence so
far that rural property values suffer when livestock confinements become
neighbors, economists say.

Property values sink only when homes are downwind from livestock
confinements, according to a study by ISU's Center for Agricultural and
Rural Development. Homes that are within a half-mile of confinements are hit
hardest.

A study of 1,145 rural homes in five north-central Iowa counties found that
property values plunge by up to 11 percent within a quarter-mile of a
livestock facility. Homes within a half-mile drop in value by up to 8
percent. Property values dip about 3 percent for homes that are more than a
mile away.

Critics said the study downplays damage to property values and wrongly
relies on property sales data. Researchers should have looked at homes that
haven't sold, they said.

"Every one of the lawsuits settled in court against factory farms had an
award for . . . a significant amount of money," said Kari Carney, a
spokeswoman for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. "I just don't think
they're really looking at the whole picture."

Researchers said the study uses only average damages. Specific cases depend
on a livestock facility's management practices and other factors.

The study also found that medium-sized livestock feeding operations, or ones
that keep about 1,600 animals, harm property values more than larger
operations of 3,000 or more. Researchers blamed the age or outdated
management practices of smaller facilities.

Limited research has hampered environmental regulators and judges who try to
pinpoint damage to property values, said Bruce Babcock, an economics
professor who runs the ISU center and led the study. Older studies came up
short on property information, he said.

A 1997 study of 237 rural homes in North Carolina found a decline of up to 9
percent in property values. The study's authors, however, failed to pinpoint
the locations of livestock confinements, which prevented them from
considering whether livestock facilities were upwind or downwind from their
neighbors, the ISU report said.

Babcock and his research team hope their study, released this month, will
fill the research gap.

Hog confinement plans have met icy receptions across rural Iowa in recent
years. Angry residents have complained that the stench from confinements
disrupts their lives, makes them sick and hurts property values. Some
university researchers have contended that livestock confinements can make
people sick.

Last year's overhaul of the state's livestock confinement law called for the
monitoring of outdoor air quality. The state Environmental Protection
Commission approved limits on emissions of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, but
the Legislature scrapped them in response to objections from nonlivestock
industries, which were surprised that the emissions limits would apply to
them, too.

State law and Supreme Court rulings have stripped county governments of the
power to regulate where hog confinements are built. So some property owners
have turned to lawsuits.

Eight Sac County residents settled a lawsuit out of court this spring
against Iowa Select Farms over a 30,000-head hog confinement. In June,
families in Shelby County sued a Harlan businessman over his hog confinement
near Brayton.

"We don't even open the windows anymore," said Gary Langbein, 32, who lives
a half-mile from the Iowa Select facility in Sac County. "We pretty much go
from heat to air conditioning."

Langbein, who raises crops and 70 hogs on his farm, was named in the lawsuit
against Iowa Select. He questioned the ISU study's focus on wind direction
and said it underestimated damage to property values.

"The thing is, how do you define downwind?" Langbein asked. "It's not like
it blows in a straight line."

Livestock supporters admit the damage to property values in some cases but
have said the need to support a competitive industry in Iowa outweighs the
costs, the report said. Political interests have kept state lawmakers from
resolving the stalemate.

The study is an attempt to bring both sides together, Babcock said.

"I think we need to find a way to move beyond yelling at each other about
livestock facilities and start thinking about how we can support that
industry in the state" while satisfying property owners, Babcock said.

The report encourages livestock operators to pass up sites that are within a
half-mile and upwind from homes. It also suggests livestock operators pay
residents modestly for lost property values and promise proper management
practices. In return, residents should allow the facility to operate,
Babcock said.

The ISU center, which depends on state money, used money from its own budget
for the study, Babcock said.

Several people involved in the livestock industry said Wednesday that they
hadn't read the study. Iowa Select officials declined to comment on it.

Gary Weihs, the Harlan businessman who's being sued in Shelby County,
pointed to a finding that medium-sized livestock facilities are a bigger
threat than larger facilities. Weihs spent months trying to convince Elk
Horn residents that a proposed 5,600-head hog confinement would add to the
economy without polluting the town's wells and clean image. He backed away
from the plan in January 2002.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the study

PROPERTIES: The ISU research team studied property values of more than 1,145
homes from 1992 to 2002 in five north-central Iowa counties: Franklin,
Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt and Webster. Most homes were downwind from
livestock confinement facilities.

DATA: ISU economists collected rural property sales information from county
assessor offices, including lot sizes, a home's age, additions and other
amenities. They also weighed positive effects on home prices, such as
distance to the nearest large town and nearest high school.

LIVESTOCK OPERATIONS: For each home, the economists identified the nearest
livestock operation requiring a construction permit or manure management
plan. Researchers recorded the facility's distance from each home, its size
and whether it was upwind in winter or summer months. Economists also
considered the indirect impact of industry growth on housing demand. About
550 livestock facilities in and around the five counties were included in
the report. Nearly all of them were hog confinements.

On the Web

Read the full report, "Living With Hogs in Iowa: The Impact of Livestock
Facilities on Rural Residential Property Values," on the ISU Center for
Agricultural and Rural Development's Web site at: www.card.iastate.edu

--------------------------
Lyle R. Krewson
Sierra Club Conservation Organizer
6403 Aurora Avenue #3
Des Moines, IA 50322-2862

515/276-8947
515/238-7113 - cel

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