Judge halts Cooper County rule amid farmers’ lawsuit

More than 100 farmers have sued the Cooper County Public Health Center Board of Trustees over recently enacted regulations on litter and manure connected to a hog farm.

The attorney representing all the plaintiffs claims the regulation, which the board approved Aug. 23, is cumbersome and not based in science.

Agricultural lawyer Brent Haden said all of the people he is representing in the lawsuit ” are touched by this regulation, which has made things more expensive, more difficult for them to operate, and affected their livelihood.”

On Oct. 5, Cooper County Circuit Judge Robert Koffman ordered a preliminary injunction on the rule, so it will not be enforced until July 2019 or until the case is settled.

The regulation, which you can access in full here , changes the rules for nutrient management plans and how manure can be used near residential property. It went into effect immediately after it was passed.

Changes include increasing the required distance between residents and the area where animal waste is injected. Under state and federal law, Haden said, farmers must spread manure at least 50 feet away from any residence. The regulation increases that to 100 feet.

“I t creates a much larger buffer zone where you can’t fertilize,” Haden said.

The regulation also requires crop farmers to have a nutrient management plan in place before harvest, which Haden said puts farmers in a time crunch.

“(The Board of Trustees) said you have to have a nutrient management plans in place to be able to do this, on a time frame where no one can realistically get that, to be able to operate this fall,” Haden said.

The current members of the Board of Trustees, as well as the lawyer representing the board in the lawsuit, have not responded to requests for comment.

The regulation was approved after the Department of Natural Resources in June approved a permit for a large hog farm near the Moniteau County line. The farm drew opposition from many county residents.