COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Sept. 3, inspectors from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency descended on Edon, in the extreme northwestern part of Ohio.
It was the second visit to multiple farms in the region. For more than two years, a highly motivated group of environmentalists has tried to slow the ever-expanding footprint of Schmucker Family Farms, one of the largest beef producers in the state. That effort has included reporting of suspected violations to the ODA and OEPA.
The complaints paid off with inspections at 16 properties in the spring, and multiple violations being discovered, almost all of them related to improper manure handling and run-off into nearby waterways. The state required most of those violations to be addressed by Sept. 1.
RELATED: Williams County properties cited for manure management issues as battle over cattle continues
The return trip to the farms found that almost all of the manure piles had been removed and infrastructure put in place to prevent run-off.
“Recently most of them have come into compliance by their deadline,” said Brian Baldridge, the director of the ODA. “We have a couple that have not reached that deadline yet, but they are moving forward to take care of any concerns.”
But concerns remain about bringing such a large number of cows into a 50-square-mile area. In August, 11 Investigates looked into the history and the pollution and zoning concerns related to Schmucker farms.
Beginning in late 2022, when the Schmuckers lost an attempt to build a large CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) in northeastern Indiana, the Schmuckers and their partners have moved tens of thousands, possibly 100,000, cows into Williams County. With that large number of animals has come a large amount of manure. Earlier in the summer, 11 Investigates saw massive piles of manure on Schmucker properties, some of them in the open, near roadways and waterways.
The fertile grounds of Williams County are prime real estate for growing feed for livestock. But it is also precious ground for the region’s water supply, sitting atop the Michindoh Aquifer in the St. Joseph River Watershed. That watershed contains multiple streams, creeks and rivers that feed into the Maumee River and eventually into Lake Erie.
11 Investigates analyzed water samples of St. Joseph tributaries that were provided to us by local residents. Fish and Bear creeks had troubling levels of E. coli.
Levels above 1,000 would close a beach. Some testing points were 24 times that level.
Our August investigation captured the attention of top state officials. The directors of the ODA and OEPA – Baldridge, and Anne M. Vogel – agreed to meet 11 Investigates in Columbus to discuss the issue.
When asked about the apparently polluted waterways, Vogel responded: “On both Sept. 10 and Sept. 16, our teams were out taking samples in Bear Creek and Fish Creek and several tributaries to those small creeks…..It will take several weeks to get those results, but we want to know exactly what’s in the water as well.”
But, in August, we also identified notable land management trends in extreme northwest Ohio. Auditor records show a large number of parcel splits involving the Schmuckers and their partners, beginning in early 2023.
When asked about this practice, Baldridge did not express concern.
“I know I have a decent size family, and there’s talks of dividing up some of our farms and so forth as we go to the next generation, so for whatever reason, that occurs,” he said.
However, splitting a parcel can also allow a farmer to build barns on each property and have fewer than 1,000 animals in those barns, avoiding a permit requirement.
During our trips to the area in early summer, we saw multiple properties that had new barns in close proximity to each other. In some cases, barns were simply built on both sides of a driveway that split a property.
Staying below the 1,000-animal threshold is significant because it allows a landowner to avoid being declared a concentrated animal feeding operation. A CAFO is subject to closer monitoring from the state.
Despite Baldridge’s comment, 11 Investigates previously discovered an email from another ODA official. In that email, the official, in discussing the Schmuckers, said the splitting is a loophole. The email reads “We have to find a way to close this loophole. It is a problem.”
During the spring inspections, three Schmucker properties were operating above the 1,000-animal threshold without a permit. They were ordered to begin the permitting application process and were given until December to submit those applications. Michael Schmucker, the family spokesperson, confirmed to us that the process has begun and is expected to be completed by the deadline.
Sandy Bihn, the executive director of the Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association, has worked with members of the Williams County Alliance – an environmental group composed of Williams County and Indiana residents – to investigate the Schmucker properties.
The group provided water testing results, photos, and historical information about 16 properties – all of which received violation notifications. The family owns many more properties.
During our trip to Columbus, Baldridge and Vogel mentioned multiple times that agency investigations are a “complaint-driven process.”
“It’s really upsetting that they didn’t go and investigate the rest of them, just because we only picked some of them. There are many, many more that were doing the same thing,” Bihn said. “So these 16 are fixed, and the majority are left alone unless we see something? I think it’s very narrow of them not to have expanded their investigation into the whole operation.”
Vogel understood the concern, but she countered that farmers would not want state officials knocking on their doors and constantly inspecting their operations. She added that Gov. Mike DeWine has asked ODA and OEPA to work together to protect the waterways.
“The governor’s asked us to stay on top of this to make sure that we’re verifying compliance,” Vogel said. “This is not just a matter of us taking their word for it. We’re going to be out there. We’re going to be making sure that they’re in compliance.”
The ongoing drought has complicated the investigation somewhat because it’s difficult to determine if the run-off issues have been totally fixed because there has been little rain to cause run-off.
“We’re certainly aware of that. What we’ll do is continue to take samples, so we’re not done,” Vogel said. “We will now have a baseline and we’ll continue to go back and take samples throughout the fall.”
Schmucker, Baldridge and Vogel each complimented the relationship between all sides, saying the goal is compliance.
“What we want to see is the problem fixed and the problem fixed swiftly so that we don’t have a larger concern,” Baldridge said.
He said his obligations are to protect the environment but also support the state’s farming communities, which account for billions of dollars and provide roughly 10 percent of the state’s jobs.
“When it comes to soil health and water quality, the AG community is front and center of that conversation," Baldridge said. "Because without those two things, our business model doesn’t work.”
For Bihn, the issues run deeper than the Schmucker properties.
“The state of Ohio really needs to address this problem – quickly – as part of this whole assessment. They need to recommend legislation that addresses parcel splits, because there are many, and not just Schmucker,” Bihn said. “This is happening in operations all over the state, and it certainly isn’t helping the western Ohio watershed.”
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