No doubt there’ll be an appeal of last week’s breathtaking $11 million verdict against a confined feeding operation in Berlin, Missouri.
The case, which for years has pitted family farmer against large scale farmer, involved the stench emanating from a farm owned by Smithfield Foods subsidiary Premium Standard Farms.
One expert is reported to have testified that he’d been to the slums of Calcutta and never seen anything like the “cesspits and maggots on the farm,” which sits 80 miles north of Kansas City.
And amazingly, this isn’t the first multimillion dollar case against PSF alleging the same thing.
The seven farming families suing this time were apparently a part of a group of 52 plaintiffs who sued and won a $5.2 million verdict against PSF 11 years ago.
Mainly local media, including the Kansas City Star, have reported on the verdict. Also see this news release from the plaintiffs.
The CAFO finishes an unbelievable 200,000 hogs per year. Waste has to be managed in smelly lagoons and 50 cesspits to hold manure, urine and afterbirth.
PSF continues to maintain that it’s following the letter and the spirit of the law in Missouri. On its website, the company asserts that it has operates a “sustainable environmental management system” by minimizing waste through diet and to transform liquid waste into high quality organic fertilizer.
Virtual Farmgirl 