Michigan Brochure Has Scratch And Sniff Manure Smell
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:01 am
Michigan Brochure Has Scratch And Sniff Manure Smell
POSTED: 9:59 a.m. EDT August 6, 2003
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Ottawa County officials are raising a stink as they try to educate would-be residents of some of the realities of rural living.
The Ottawa County Planning Commission has created a new brochure designed to reduce nuisance complaints that new homeowners sometimes make against farmers. The pamphlet includes a scratch-and-sniff section that emits a genuine odor of manure.
"It's an attention grabber," said Mark Knudsen, director of the county's planning and grants department. "The whole purpose is that people should not move into a rural area unless they're willing to accept and embrace the practices that happen on a farming operation."
Ottawa remains a major farm county, with dairy cows, beef cattle, chickens, turkeys and hogs. Too many buyers with a taste for country life are moving in and complaining about noise, dust and odors, farmers and county official say.
"We've got people near us calling the police and saying they don't want to hear the tractors," said Ann Pyle, whose family has a dairy herd.
The pamphlet explains that state law generally protects farmers from complaints about their operations, especially when spraying pesticides, spreading manure, transporting products and driving slow machines on two-lane roads.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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POSTED: 9:59 a.m. EDT August 6, 2003
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Ottawa County officials are raising a stink as they try to educate would-be residents of some of the realities of rural living.
The Ottawa County Planning Commission has created a new brochure designed to reduce nuisance complaints that new homeowners sometimes make against farmers. The pamphlet includes a scratch-and-sniff section that emits a genuine odor of manure.
"It's an attention grabber," said Mark Knudsen, director of the county's planning and grants department. "The whole purpose is that people should not move into a rural area unless they're willing to accept and embrace the practices that happen on a farming operation."
Ottawa remains a major farm county, with dairy cows, beef cattle, chickens, turkeys and hogs. Too many buyers with a taste for country life are moving in and complaining about noise, dust and odors, farmers and county official say.
"We've got people near us calling the police and saying they don't want to hear the tractors," said Ann Pyle, whose family has a dairy herd.
The pamphlet explains that state law generally protects farmers from complaints about their operations, especially when spraying pesticides, spreading manure, transporting products and driving slow machines on two-lane roads.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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