The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Up In The Air

by Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher/Owner

5 April 2006

It seems many were up in the air with emotions about hog confinements planned for Henderson County during Friday's "Informational Meeting on the issue.

The problem is not about buying or owning enough land it is that there is no guarantee who your neighbors will be, even in the case of the "Three Little Pigs."

You just hope you get a good neighbor like the 3rd little pig was, who built his house of brick, and kept it in ship shape. I imagine he would even bring over, an occasional freshly baked homemade pie.

So far, only one application has been approved for construction of a 960 unit confinement outside Media in Henderson County, but applications for 4 more are in the works, they said.

TriOak Foods, are looking to expand their sow operations, and build a Feed Mill, as well as a second food processing plant in Moline.

"We are living on exports!" CEO Randy Pflum told us. "We need to become more self-sufficient in producing Nitrogen." Pflum feels that nitrogen shortage in the U.S. is of more concern than the shortage of fuel oil in our country.

So, the little piggies may be moving next door to help.

According to all that was unveiled by the state's experts at the Informational Meeting Friday and TriOak Foods, you can't compare today's confinements with those of the past. All that bad odor has gone up in the air, and the piggies owners and managers want to be good neighbors. That's all we can ask.