Hog confinement expansion blocked in Jefferson County

Jefferson County Farmers and Neighbors successfully opposed a hog factory's plan to expand a 2480-head hog confinement north of the city of Pleasant Plain by 1200 hogs. The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors met on June 3 to score the applicant's master matrix. The board took two hours to review the application and found problems with four of the items, deducting 60 of the 440 points that the applicants had proposed to award themselves. Consequently, the Board will recommend to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that the expansion proposal be denied.