This is the first story in a three-part series called Hogtied, which examines the political, regulatory and economic forces shaping a proposal to build the state’s largest pig farm.
During a frigid January evening, the businessman pitched his vision for the northwest Wisconsin town. He handed out cards — looking for anyone interested in selling him land.
Only seven people attended the board of Trade Lake’s first monthly meeting of 2019, so few realized the businessman sought to construct a swine farm. As they would later learn, the $20 million project, known as Cumberland LLC, could house up to 26,350 animals — the largest pig breeding operation within the state and, potentially, the Midwest.
Not long after, the town’s chairman, Jim Melin, called the businessman and told him he had property that might serve the company’s purposes.
The exchange and later dealings would mire Melin in legal controversy as Trade Lake residents organized to prevent construction of the livestock farm — also known as a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO.
“There was no whatchamacallit that said I couldn’t sell the land to somebody,” Melin would later testify in a sworn deposition. “There is no law that says I can’t sell the land — ag land to an ag enterprise.”
The pig farm exists only on paper, but it has occupied the hearts and minds of area residents and property owners for nearly five years.
The farmers, snowbirds and Twin Cities weekenders among Trade Lake’s population of 904 enjoy living in a place where wildlife otherwise sequestered to a zoo can be viewed for free: deer, pheasants, loons, turkey vultures, river otters.
While about 20% of Trade Lake land is agricultural, tourism also forms an economic mainstay. One-third of residences are seasonal and dot the shorelines of several of the town’s 14 named lakes. Nearly 60% of the tax base comes from lakeshore and vacation properties.
CAFO opponents say they are fighting to protect the natural landscape, their health and property values. Cumberland kicked off a movement to thwart an outsider’s proposal to reshape their town in the name of profit.
But Trade Lake includes CAFO supporters too. They perceive opponents’ efforts as a power grab by “lake people” and seek to protect an agrarian tradition by ushering in farming’s future.
“There are very few people who grew up on the farm,” said retired crop and beef producer Charles Johnson, 82, who preceded Melin as town chair, serving about 30 years. “We’re vastly outnumbered.”
Many Wisconsin communities have considered whether to welcome large livestock farms, particularly as CAFOs have proliferated tenfold in Wisconsin within the past three decades. But few house the political intrigue of Trade Lake, where opponents sued to remove Melin from office, accusing him of backroom dealings to facilitate Cumberland’s construction. During a two-year legal challenge, parties questioned whether the chairman violated state ethics regulations.
The lawsuit surfaced information that raised questions over the company’s ownership — the mercurial businessman’s affiliation with the project was initially unclear and his explanations shifted — leading residents to another question: Who is that man?
The Cumberland saga also highlighted a gap in state oversight of CAFO developers after landowners discovered their fields were designated for manure spreading without their awareness or consent. Those in Trade Lake who call for stronger regulations say the absence of universal verification may lead the Department of Natural Resources to approve large livestock farms that lack a sufficient land base on which to apply manure, leaving the landscape vulnerable to excessive application and pollution.
“If it hadn’t been for concerned citizens reviewing all the falsehoods in the application and reviewing the things that we revealed to the DNR,” said Trade Lake resident Judi Clarin, 62, “Cumberland, it’s very possible that they would have been allowed to site.”
Money from manure
Jim Melin and the businessman, Jeff Sauer, met again a week or so after the call at Jim’s home, along with Jim’s wife, Patty. Jim’s son Erik Melin eventually stopped by. They talked about what the pig farm would mean for the area.
Sauer — a Thorp, Wisconsin-based farmer, consultant and Cumberland representative — scouted sites throughout Burnett County for the company’s Iowa owners.
With hungry snouts to feed, the new facility would offer the local farmers cooperative an outlet to which to sell grain, ideally reducing shipping costs and increasing the local sale price of corn.
They also chatted about the manure’s value, something Sauer had already discussed with Erik the previous year as he searched for eligible properties. Erik, 38, who has farmed his entire life and was taking over his father’s business, Lucky Oats Farm, raises beef cattle and grows corn and soybeans across roughly 2,000 acres.
“We just wanted the manure, the nutrients,” Jim Melin later told attorneys. “Because it’s cheaper than commercial fertilizer and safer than commercial fertilizer.”
By Melin’s estimate, he would save roughly $42,000 by acquiring manure from the swine CAFO.
At some point, Sauer asked him to name a price for a roughly 37-acre field where the operation would be sited alongside a 2-acre parcel Cumberland already owned.
Melin said his banker recommended $130,000, which Cumberland’s owners offered in late February 2019.
Sauer later stated a farm credit cooperative evaluated the price. He called it a “lie” that it was inflated. Yet that year in Burnett County, where Trade Lake is located, farmland sold for an average of $2,045 per acre, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. Melin was to receive $3,530 per acre — “a little higher than market value,” he told attorneys.
Source: wisconsinwatch.org
Photo Credit: istock-deyanarobova
Categories: Wisconsin, Livestock, Hogs