Denna, given your attitude towards these practices, I'm assuming that you are either vegetarian or--at the very least--eat organic meat only (given that the organic farms don't do things like cutting off chicken beaks).  Remember that essentially all of the companies mass producing non-organic meat are using the same methods. 

If not--if you actually buy/eat non-organic meat, then you are being a bit hypocritical--by supporting something that you are complaining about through your own purchases!  It would be exactly like someone holding protests against the fur industry while walking around in a fur coat. 

If the above truly represents very strong beliefs that you hold, then hopefully you are living by them, whether or not it is easy or convenient (and given all of the available choices in our supermarkets, it is actually both).  Otherwise don't complain that something isn't "beneficial for society" when you yourself are reaping the benefits of it (i.e., the cheaper meat that is produced by the non-organic methods of farming).  You can't have it both ways.  The reason I bring this up is because I thought I remember you saying on another thread that you do eat non-organic meat, non-organic eggs, etc.  Of course, you might have changed that since then.  It just seems that if you have very strong convictions about something, you should also have the character to live your own life according to those convictions.

Unless, of course, what you are really trying to say is that you are perfectly ok with non-organic farming, but you just don't want it happening in your own backyard where you can smell it.  If that's the case, let's just be clear that this is what your argument is about, and not about protesting standard methods of non-organic farming that you are directly supporting every time you go to the supermarket to buy meat, eggs, or milk.

Denna, another important thing to understand is the city's interdependence with the farming community. It's not about corruption or being in bed with anyone, but the fact that Maricopa has historically been an agricultural economy. In other words, the major industry revenue coming to this city has been from agriculture, given that Maricopa has one of the most successful agricultural industries in the entire state, built up over many years. The revenue coming in from those farms has fueled a lot of the development, etc. here, and is probably, in part, what made it possible for Maricopa to become a city in the first place. If you were to just 'get rid of the farms,' the city would immediately take an extremely nasty hit as it would lose a huge part of its budget. Now, what happens over time is that more and larger stores are built, and become a larger part of the economy, and eventually the farms are bought out as the land becomes more and more valuable to commerce.

This is how change happens--not by trying to sign a petition to 'kick out' the farms and thereby rob Maricopa of one of its largest sources of revenue going towards the city budget. Of course, if the goal is simply to ensure farm compliance with EPA regulations, etc., that's a somewhat more realistic goal, and one that I think you'd have a lot more support for than trying to 'oust' the farms.

I don't care what the farms do as long as they stop stinking up the entire town in a 10 sq/mile radius. How dare they put us through that.

No if the farms went away, then we would lose some beer and cigarette income at circle K, and there would be a lot of vacant trailers in the old scary part of town past the Casino. The farmers don't live in civilization and they mock those of us who do with their rancid wet stink.

Honestly, the farmers don' spend their money here. Please. Just stop it. They pay some taxes yes. But who needs them if they are just bringing the entire town down into a smelly foreclosure pit of dispair.

Personally, I think the farmers are trying to drive out the middle class so their workers can buy our homes for pennies on the dollar. This is definitely an us vs. them thing. I don't mind farmers... I mind cow and chicken farmers who smell.

The farmers are diabolical.  They engineered the real estate crash across the entire country to drive us out of Maricopa.

Kudos to them.

Denna, Denna, Denna...  First off, you're missing an obvious way in which a city collects revenue--from its businesses.  And historically, farming/agriculture has been Maricopa's MAIN economic base (i.e., the industry that provides Maricopa with the most revenue).  This balance has changed a bit over the last couple of years due to the influx of residents and the new businesses, but obviously, agriculture/farming would still be a major part of the revenue here--far from being a matter of 'a few taxes.' 

And you can't blame the foreclosures on the farmers (well, you could but it wouldn't really reflect reality...).  The increase in foreclosures is due to a housing market that has gone south as a result of (1) rampant speculation and (2) extremely risky loans that people took out--and real estate agents encouraged them to take out--when they were unrealistically convinced that the market would just keep going up.  This is the mindset of "it doesn't matter that this loan is going to completely balloon to the point of being non-affordable to me in a few years--by that point I will have made a killing and have moved out and bought property somewhere else." Then the market crashed and those people were stuck with a house they couldn't sell when they needed to and therefore had to foreclose on when the balloon hit.

It is a situation that is happening all over the country; the entire real estate industry nationwide is in trouble--to the point where the federal government is considering bailing out buyers who are upside down and bailing out national homebuilders who are on the brink of bankruptcy--which will probably do more harm than good.  To blame this on some local farmers in Maricopa is nuts!  The smell, yes.  The foreclosures, no.  Also, remember that the farms were here when Maricopa was booming as well; they obviously didn't stop people from buying in droves then.  The only thing that's really changed from then to now is that the real estate market has tanked all over. 

I know you would like to blame everything on the farms, but you need to take your blinders off at this point rather than saying things that are nuts--unless you're joking of course.  Maybe I just need my sense of humor repaired...

This town reeks of crap. Denna, your definetly crazy.. But I kinda agree with you. I had a Belly Dump Truck full of Manure in front of me the other day when it was raining and guess what happened.. Yes.. it SHAT all over my car! The farmer's can take their Dually's and drive 25 mph in a 50 zone right up their A#$e$!

Oh, I completely agree about the smell So.SideClubFan, but as you said, Denna's definitely a fruit loop short of a full bowl.

LOL!  You said "shat"!!!

The past present and future of Maricopa is the cow! Get used to it, I'm surprised you haven't already what with the cows having been here before you got here. The economy of  Pinal County area rests heavily on those gorgeous cows. The multi million dollar Daisy Brand sour cream and cottage cheese plant and the United Dairymen's yogurt plant in Casa Grande are being built because of the proximity to the Maricopa cow.

Where does the poop go?? It goes to Frito Lay and it is burned for energy. Frito Lay Pinal County is the first "green" plant in the Pepsi Cola corporation.The University of Arizona is studying the Maricopa area as a location for their Veterinary Science program specializing in the Bovine!. Make friends with your neighbor the cow. He's not going anywhere.

I was just browsing through forums and read your post....My husband has actually researched the EPA requirements and has also talked to the county which told him that the farms out here DO NOT meet EPA/Federal regulations. The dust you see floating through the air out by Pacana park and toward white & parker/maricopa casa grande hwy is actually called particulate matter....aka, dried cow manure.

The feed lots are supposed to keep the manure moist with a misting system all day and they are also supposed to clear the manure all day...but they don't. There is no misting system in place at any of the locations out in these areas (including the Shamrock Farms feed lot) so the manure basically gets dried out and carried by the wind.

I grew up in Washington state in a farming/dairy community. I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on out here, but once we did the research it started to make sense. We're pretty concerned about it because we live close to these feedlots (by the way, they have over 100,000 cows) and we're not sure exactly how this will affect our health (or the health of our unborn child) in the long run. The information we found basically said that it's not good to be around if you have asthma...which both my husband and I have.

We haven't done any research about Hickman's though. So far we've only looked into the dairies. The chicken coop smell is killing me though. Thank goodness we didn't do a big fancy backyard like we planned on! would've gone to waste!

For the people talking about how the cows were here first...you are absolutely right. I actually felt bad when we moved out here because I felt like we were all a bunch of jerks putting family farms out of business....uh, then I found out that these aren't family farms. I blame the feed lots for not living up to regulations and my builder for lying to us about exactly what kinds of farms are out here. We did specifically ask about the stench and they told us it was really only during the summer. In hindsight, we obviously should've done more research...especially since we're about 1 mile (maybe less) from a major feed lot and fertilizer plant.

Actually, when we bought our house we were told that there were some small farms in the area that could produce fumes. We just talked to the county and found out that there are approximately 100,000 cows in this area and the facilities do not meet EPA regulations.

The areas that are out here are feed lots, not dairies and they are not clearing or containing the manure as required by EPA and Federal regulations. The county has confirmed that they do not meet these regulations (by a long shot) and that they aren't in a rush to do anything about it (the feed lots, not the county). Fortunately, we have seen for sale signs going up at these feed lots, so maybe they'll hit the road....but I doubt it.

Heard the same thing over a year ago.... We can only hope that it will come tru someday, but until I actually see the feedlot gone, I am not going to get too excited about it. 

If you think about it, it seems like that feed lot is probably there for the long haul.  The waste product (processed corn) from the ethanol plant is used to feed cattle, so where would be a better place to keep the cattle, but surrounding the ethanol plant?  That way they don't  have to transport it far.  You may notice the huge stockpiles of hay being brought into the feedlot too.  If they were really moving the cattle out, why would they need to continue to stockpile the hay?

One thing that I do wonder though is why isn't Pinal Feeding Co being fined and/or pushed by the county to clean up the mess if they are in violation.  If they are not in a hurry to clean it up it's because it is not in their best interest financially to do so.  Isn't it about time that the county makes it to be in their best interest to clean it up?

We live right by there and have definitely seen cows being trucked out...the lot off of the HWY has a lot less cows then they did 6 months ago....but they still have a lot of cows there, too. We recently saw for sale signs there....not sure why they'd still be up if the property was purchased. I agree, I'll believe they're moving when they're gone...and then I'll throw a freaking party!!!

According to the county they are very well aware of the violations but nothing was done because the dairies were trying to pass a bill that they would be exempt from air pollution regulations...they bill did not pass, but this all happened within the past year. So apparently the county has told them to clean up their act but the dairies/feed lots are dragging their feet and are basically saying that they don't have the resources to do it and the county needs to figure out how to get it done. So it's just going back and forth. I doubt anything will ever happen which is frustrating. I think that if they are in violation then they need either a big fat fine or to be forced to fix it.

Has anyone noticed that the odor has changed for the worse. It doesn't seem like just cows anymore and why is it stronger at night. Is someone hiding something and doing it in the evening and early AM. I am embarrassed.