Judge prohibits dairy from applying manure

HUNTINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A judge has prohibited a rural Huntington County dairy from spreading manure from its 1,400 cows.

Huntington Circuit Judge Thomas Hakes ruled Friday that DeGroot Dairy owner, Johannes DeGroot, cannot apply manure onto fields in the area. DeGroot will be required to either pump and haul the manure to a waste treatment facility or hire a third-party “custom manure applicator” to manage the manure generated at the farm.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) had requested a preliminary injunction against the farm to prevent it from discharging manure or contaminants into the tributaries of the nearby Salamonie Reservoir.

Manure and elevated levels of ammonia nitrogen were found in a creek near the dairy on April 9 and 11. IDEM officials revoked the dairy’s operating permit in May, but DeGroot appealed the decision.

Peter Racher, an attorney for DeGroot, has argued there was no evidence connecting the most recent contamination in the creek to the dairy, its operation or its cows. But he said the dairy will comply fully with the injunction.

“This case is about much more than manure management at DeGroot Dairy,” he said in a statement. “What’s at stake is whether the government can drive a lawful family farm out of business because of political pressure, but without reliable scientific evidence that the farm has violated the law.

“If all it takes to get an injunction against a farmer in Indiana is the non-science ‘evidence’ that IDEM is using in this case, then every farmer in the state is at risk, and every farmer is vulnerable to being enjoined.”

IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock said Hakes’ ruling should assure the public that the agency is working to provide effective oversight at all facilities.

DuPont to invest $42 million in Pioneer genetics research

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Plant genetics research company Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. and its parent company, DuPont, plan to spend $41.7 million to expand seed genetics research in Iowa.

Most of the money, about $34 million, will be spent at Pioneer’s headquarters in Johnston, a Des Moines suburb, where 52 jobs will be added and a $21 million, 60,000-square-foot research laboratory will be built, Pioneer spokesman Pat Arthur said Thursday.

Pioneer also will expand research facilities in Dallas Center, Urbandale and Marion and renovate a DuPont automotive coatings plant in Fort Madison.

A $100 million plan to boost its research capabilities in plant genetics and biotechnology was announced earlier, but details for Iowa were released by the companies and the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) on June 13, when state incentives were approved.

The company will receive state tax breaks under a jobs creation program and $400,000 from a separate state economic development fund, an IDED statement said. Under the incentive package, Pioneer pledges to hire an additional 165 workers, including 85 researchers in Iowa.

DuPont wants to expand its market position in ethanol and other biofuel as well as emerging technology in cellulosics and other biomaterials, the company said.

The $100 million plan includes the addition of more than 400 positions globally, mainly in research and development at Pioneer, and expanding research and development efforts at 67 of the 92 Pioneer research centers worldwide. On June 12, DuPont announced the opening of its newest seed research center in Porto Nacional, Brazil.

The research center will focus on winter nursery capabilities for corn and soybean breeding, drought tolerance and heat stress research, as well as local product development efforts, the company said in a statement.

AEP will try to cut greenhouse gas from U.S. livestock farms

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — American Electric Power is starting the country’s first large-scale program to convert gas from livestock manure into a less-potent carbon dioxide to try to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

AEP, one of the nation’s largest power generators, announced on Thursday an agreement with an affiliate of Environmental Credit Corp. for a program that will capture and destroy methane from 400,000 head of livestock, mostly cows, on as many as 200 farms.

Methane from livestock manure accounts for 6.6 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to AEP.
AEP will buy about 4.6 million carbon credits from 2010-17 from Environmental Credit as part of the plan in which it will build covers for lagoons – commonly used to store manure from livestock operations – that will capture and burn off the methane. The process will convert methane into carbon dioxide and reduce odors from the lagoons.

AEP would not give the program’s cost. Farmers will be paid for participating. More than half the work will be done on farms within AEP’s 11-state service area.

The plan is part of programs AEP has put in place to cut greenhouse gases, including improvements at power plants, wind generation and reforestation projects. AEP has committed to gradually reduce, avoid or offset its greenhouse emissions to six percent below the average of its 1998-2001 emission levels by 2010.