By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Hoosier agricultural leaders, producers and residents of eastern Indiana are speaking out and hoping to set the record straight in regards to recent media reports on the economic impact of hog farms in Jay and Randolph counties.

The original AP article causing havoc across the agriculture community was released on July 6 and focused on a Ball State University study of the hog industry in two eastern Indiana counties. The article served as a follow-up to an anti-CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) summit hosted in Hartford City, Ind., featuring guest speaker and animal agriculture opponent Bill Weida, also an economist for the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment’s (GRACE) Family Farm Project.

During the summit, Weida referenced the Ball State study, adding his own conclusion that the pork industry in Jay and Randolph counties “is creating so little economic activity that it’s almost irrelevant.”

Since then, numerous follow-up articles and letters to the editor have been submitted to the Star Press in Muncie, Ind., disputing the article’s data and comments made by Weida.

In a July 10 statement, Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller said, “The Global Resource Action Center for the Environment’s most recent tactic was to manipulate third-party data to mislead Hoosier communities into believing that agriculture is not a valuable economic development opportunity – ultimately hurting Indiana’s family farms.”

Additionally, Indiana Pork leader and executive director Michael Platt is disappointed and upset by the negative media coverage surrounding the Ball State study and “biased” conclusions drawn by Weida.

“The outrageous conclusions from the New York based GRACE Foundation that the hog industries in Jay and Randolph counties are “almost irrelevant” are both irresponsible and insulting to pork producers who live and work in those counties,” said Platt. “The facts demonstrate that responsible pork production in Indiana and specifically Jay and Randolph counties are a very valuable contributor to the local economies.”

Even the study’s author and senior project director with Ball State’s Building Better Communities, Richard Heupel disagrees with the comments made by the anti-agriculture group. “These (GRACE) statements do not accurately reflect Ball State’s findings on the economic impact of the hog production industry,” said Heupel.

According to Heupel, these findings include “hog production ranking in the top 10 in output among all industry sectors in each county” and “the hog production industry in Jay and Randolph counties accounts for an estimated $88 million in direct economic activity plus an additional $20.5 million in spin-offs.”

“The Ball State University study truly referenced positive opportunities for the local economy to embrace the hog industry,” said Platt. “We’re optimistic and encouraged by the study.”

In response to negative media coverage in eastern Indiana, the Jay County Farm Bureau unveiled a new campaign to “set the record straight” called Under Fire. The campaign includes radio and newspaper ads and yard signs that read “Got Breakfast? Thank a Farmer.”

“We are tired of people telling lies about what animal farmers bring and the value of the (livestock) industry,” said Jay County Farm Bureau member Vicky Lochtefeld.

Mark Townsend, who owns and operates a 2,400 sow farrow-to-finish hog operation in Hartford City, Ind. is “disturbed the wire picked up this article,” adding that the July 6 article is not the “whole story” of the hog industry in eastern Indiana.

“It’s certainly contrary with what I’ve seen as far as economic impact we make in the area,” said Townsend of Blackford County, which neighbors Jay and Randolph. “A few years ago, I did some checking and we do business with nearly 113 vendors in a 50 mile radius. We do good business in our local community.”

Townsend added that “I would quarrel with Weida’s conclusion on the multiplier effect, we (hog producers) certainly contribute to our local economy.”

In the original AP article, Weida concluded that “hog farms in this area are absolutely horrible as an economic generator …”
Weida recently responded to the numerous opposition letters sent to the Star Press in Muncie, adding that he stands by his original conclusions. “These statistics obviously were not manipulated,” he said. “They were simply read right out of the report and in context.”

“Weida has his own agenda and this will most likely be used by various organizations as the supposed proof that the hog industry is not good for our economy,” concluded Platt. “It’s an understanding of heightened level of tactics to slow or even reverse progress in the hog industry. Our role at Indiana Pork is to help get producers through that obstacle as quickly and painlessly as possible.”