Seward County officials have been adding requirements on new conditional use permits for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that include use of prescribed truck routes to minimize damage to county roads.
But not everyone has received the message.
Seward County Commission Chair Misty Ahmic described a recent incident in which a county official contacted a trucking company hired to deliver building supplies to a Seward County poultry farm about the roads they chose to use instead of the preferred route.
The farm owner is aware of the preferred route, but somewhere along the way, the contracted driver did not get the word that there was a prescribed route.
At Ahmic’s invitation, Steve Martin of the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska (AFAN), Kurt Michaelis from Smart Chicken and Jessica Kolterman of Lincoln Premium Poultry attended the Seward County Commissioners’ meeting Dec. 9 to discuss ways to better inform people involved with poultry farms about the road concerns.
Ahmic thanked them for participating in earlier meetings with producers to help work through some of the challenges inherent with conditional use permits for poultry farms, and said communication of the preferred routes has become an issue in the county.
Local poultry producers work with the Seward County Roads Department to identify the best routes for trucks going to and from their farms based on the roads’ condition and ability to handle heavy truck traffic, minimized use of unpaved roads and weather conditions.
While the poultry processing companies have criteria for the construction of the local poultry farms, the local producers work with construction companies, and the construction companies may be working with contract suppliers or delivery drivers.
“What can we do to make them more aware?” Ahmic asked. “Everybody is saying ‘it’s not us, it’s not us, it’s not us.’”
Kolterman suggested the road restrictions be included on the building checklist the two companies give their contracted poultry feeders. The lists are detailed and also include lists of permits the poultry producers are required to obtain.
“I talked to a couple of our producers last night,” Kolterman said. “They want to be collaborators and good partners to the county.”
Both Lincoln Premium Poultry and SmartChicken representatives agreed to add information about the existence of prescribed routes to their company’s checklists for producers.
Ahmic said the county understands that weather or other factors may occasionally require drivers to use other routes, but appreciated the companies taking this step.
She said Martin has been helpful in connecting with the poultry processors in the area and identifying where some of the communication issues are occurring.
“I think going forward we have a good plan,” Ahmic said in a later interview.
