Siloam Springs:  Farmers told to stop spreading litter

BY CRISTAL CODY

Arkansas Democrat Gazette Thursday, April 24, 2003

 

SILOAM SPRINGS — Six poultry companies, including Simmons Foods Inc., are ordering farmers to stop spreading chicken litter on land in the Tulsa watershed in Northwest Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma.

 

Farmers said this week that companies have threatened to cut off delivery of new chickens if the distribution of the poultry waste on farmland continues. Farmers, acting as middlemen for companies by raising the chickens after they're hatched and until ready for market, rely on these deliveries to stay in business.

 

The poultry companies involved in the case refused to comment. Several spokesmen cited a confidentiality agreement put in place by the court until a drinking-water pollution settlement with Tulsa receives court approval. Farmers say the halt of litter application in the Spavinaw/Eucha watershed, which extends from Northwest Arkansas into northeastern Oklahoma, is part of the settlement.

 

The Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority approved the settlement in March, but it must be ratified by U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan.

 

Robert Seay, an agent with Benton County Cooperative Extension Service, said he's had several phone calls from farmers concerned about how the proposed settlement will affect their poultry operations. Spring is when fertilizer usually is applied to fields and pastures. "Basically, what they've been told is producers with litter to sell or even give away, they can't let anyone who's got land in that watershed have it," he said. "I'm not aware of any place to stockpile litter or move it anywhere, so I'm at a loss as to what they're supposed to do with it."

 

Tulsa filed a lawsuit in December 2001 against the city of Decatur, Tyson Foods Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Peterson Farms Inc., Simmons Foods Inc., Cargill Inc. and George's Inc. The lawsuit alleged the poultry companies were responsible for 170 million pounds of nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich poultry waste spread each year in the watershed that caused a foul taste and odor in drinking water.

 

Decatur is accused of contributing to the phosphorus load in its treatment of wastewater from a Peterson processing plant. Part of the settlement requires Decatur to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant, according to Decatur Mayor Bill Montgomery.

 

Jim Cameron, chairman of the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority, said he couldn't confirm the settlement included orders to cease spreading litter in the area until the agreement is court-approved.

 

No court date has been set, but Cameron said it should occur before the end of the month.

 

Farmers in the Tulsa watershed aren't the only ones who face litter regulation.

 

Gov. Mike Huckabee signed three bills into law earlier this month that require, among other things, property owners who use litter and commercial fertilizer to follow state-approved nutrient management plans. The bills also establish a statewide registration of poultry farms and certification requirements for distributing poultry litter.

 

The regulations are in response to stricter water-quality limits proposed by Oklahoma, which wants to cut the levels of phosphorus in its scenic rivers.

 

The litter application ban in the Tulsa settlement is believed to be "only a stopgap measure until we get clearance on what the final phosphorus index will end up being," Seay said of the tool used to write nutrient farm management plans. "That's the carrot dangling at the end."

 

About 1,500 farmers with at least 20 acres or more operate in the watershed, said Frank Walker, grassland specialist for the Spavinaw/Eucha watershed for the Benton County Conservation District.

 

Loyd McKenzie, who manages state Sen. Kim Hendren's 500-acre poultry and cattle farm about a mile east of Gravette, said Simmons Foods told him last week that no one in the Spavinaw/Eucha watershed can spread litter. Hendren's farm grows chickens exclusively for Siloam Springsbased Simmons. "As far as I know right now, we either got to pile it up outside and tarp it or build a storage shed for it," said McKenzie, also Hendren's son-in-law. "It's getting to be a pretty big mess. If I get caught spreading litter out here, I will not get any more Simmons chickens."

 

The farm has about 200 cows and four chicken houses, which each produce about 20,000 chickens every six to eight weeks.

 

Simmons' President Todd Simmons said it's not appropriate for the company to comment at this time given the court-imposed confidentiality agreement.

 

Hendren, a Republican from Gravette, said he's heard the provision covers all the farmers in the area. "This has to be a positive cooperative effort involving all of us — the integrators [companies], the farmers, and the consumers," he said. "Chicken is a good food and a good income for our farm families, which we need to preserve. And we need to do that without harming the environment."

 

Hendren said his family is making arrangements to store the litter or move it out of the area, but he worries about losing the "valuable resource."

 

Since his family settled in the area in 1858, "we've seen this land here in Benton County go from the point where you could raise a few beans and a few apples to very productive land in regards to cattle grazing," Hendren said. "The primary reason is the nutrient value of the poultry litter."

 

Seay said he's concerned about expenses farmers will have when they can't use litter and must buy fertilizer to encourage grass growth. Fertilizer costs are higher this year, and a farmer may have to spend about $35 an acre to replace what had been free, he said. "One of the first things that's going to happen is loss of efficiency on maintaining forage production for livestock," Seay said. "Instead of requiring two acres to run a cow/calf unit, it's going to take three, maybe four acres to get the same amount of hay production. They'll realize real quickly they cannot maintain the current number of cattle they have on the farm."