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Manure pit in Adams moves forward, despite neighbor opposition

Ben Peyton lives on Fuller Road in Adams. His home is surrounded on both sides by wide green corn fields. Those corn fields are owned by a dairy farmer, Mike Hill. He runs Hillcrest farms. Peyton points across the road from this driveway.

“The manure pit will be located just on the eastern side of that,” Peyton said.

Peyton and his neighbors want Hill to pick another site. The proposed pit will sit above the Tug Hill aquifer.

Credit Julia Botero / WRVO News
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WRVO News
Ben Peyton, of Adams, started the group Neighbors for Responsible Farming, to oppose the manure pit.

“Why would anyone take an unnecessary risk by placing what we consider a potential time bomb on top of the aquifer? It really doesn’t make sense,”  said Peyton.

The Tug Hill aquifer is the single source of drinking water for 11 communities in three counties. Peyton and his neighbors fear if there’s a leak, the drinking water of thousands of people could be contaminated

“I have a lot of concerns,” Shirley McFadden said from her in her backyard which is also surrounded by cornfields. She said she’s not a big fan of the smell of manure but more, she’s said emissions from the pit could pollute the town’s air.

“We have children who play outside, we have sports teams that practice on fields outside let alone the air inside the buildings would be potentially threatened,” said McFadden.

The nearest schools are a mile away. Studies show that large-scale farms and their manure pits do compromise air quality. Still, it’s not clear how close people have to be to actually be affected.

Hillcrest Farms is a big dairy farm -- 950 milking cows. Hill didn’t want to be interviewed for this story, but at a town forum earlier this year he said he’s still considers his farm a family farm.

“I had no idea we’d ever grow to this. But as times change so do size of farms. Many farms in the area have grown to this size as well,” said Hill.

Hill is following the rules. There are lots of them, but he can store the manure where he needs to without asking the community’s permission.

Chris Watkins, with Jefferson County Soil and Water said industrial-scale farms are required to store manure in these pits on their land. She said the liquid manure only smells when it’s being spread on fields. That happens twice a year.

“Once this is built and everything is in place, they may not even realize it’s there,” said Watkins.

There’s lot of misinformation floating among the neighbors in Adams, according to Watkins.

“It’s important that people realize that these structures are engineered.”

She said there are a ton of regulations farms have to meet, and the pit will actually be protecting drinking water, not endangering it.

“We are look at ways to store that waste and nutrients so we can be putting it out in a time of year that is safe for the environment vs. getting it out when there is more of a potential for runoff.”

Ben Peyton said he’s not against dairy farming or manure pits. He just wishes Mike Hill had picked another location. He said he feels like his and the voice of the community doesn’t matter.

“Let’s grow the dairy industry but let’s grow it responsibly. Let’s have the dairy industry work with the communities in conjunction so that everybody benefits,” he said.

Jefferson County Soil and Water are still finalizing the details of the manure pit. It’s been approved in the towns of Adams, Camden and other communities along the aquifer.