By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Corespondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — While the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) extolled good land stewardship and public relations through seminars held during the 2009 Illinois Pork Fest in Peoria last week, a jury in Clay County validated pork producers’ increased awareness and improved handling of those issues by throwing out a nuisance lawsuit brought against a Louisville, Ill. swine farm.
Bible Pork, Inc., a state of the art swine farm in the southern part of the state, had been accused by 15 neighbors of excess odor emissions.

Phil Borgic, IPPA president and a pork producer from Nokomis, called the ruling “great news” for Illinois’ livestock industry and all of agriculture. “Many times, as in this case, livestock operations are wrongfully attacked by people with misinformation and emotional rhetoric. This jury proved that in the end facts will prevail,” stated Borgic, adding that he believes the ruling will set precedent for future, similar cases.

IPPA called the ruling a significant win for those farmers who have conducted their operations in good faith under the Illinois Facilities Management Act (IFMA), indicating in a prepared statement that the ruling “reinforces the clear protections provided under the LMFA for both livestock producers and their neighbors.”

According to a company profile of Bible Pork published in May of 2008 by National Hog Farmer, the operation started out as a sow farm contractor for the Carlyle-based Maschhoff pork facility with 500-sow, farrow-to-wean production. Bible Pork became the major multiplication system for the Maschhoffs, producing replacement gilts for other sow farms in their system. The operation now employs some 60 workers and boasts nearly 13,000 sows, while producing more than 300,000 21-day-old weaned pigs.

Bible Pork is owned by Matt Bible and his wife, Jan, along with Matt’s parents. Matt Bible, also the company’s president, told Farm World he wanted to thank his family, employees and
others for their support during the three-year process of adjudicating the lawsuit.

“We are very pleased that the Clay County jury made their decision based on the facts. We have met or exceeded all regulations and this verdict shows that people and livestock can coexist in rural communities throughout Illinois and the nation,” Bible said in an e-mailed response.

“Bible Pork respects this community and we will continue to be a good neighbor now and in the future.”

The nuisance lawsuit had drawn interest from pork producers and others from across the country. Reasons for the jury dismissal of the neighbors’ complaints were not addressed in an IPPA news release on the verdict.