FORT RECOVERY — Muhlenkamp Farms, located at 5924 state Route 49 in Fort Recovery, is seeking a five-year renewal on its permit to operate, and the Ohio Department of Agriculture is accepting public comments on this renewal.
Included in the facility’s draft permit renewal is a manure management plan, including an insect and rodent control plan, a mortality management plan, an emergency response plan and an operating record.
According to an ODA fact sheet for the farm, it has two existing poultry layer barns with a total capacity of 303,000 birds. One barn has a manure pit below the birds and the other barn’s manure goes to a separate manure storage bin. The manure storage areas can hold more than a year’s worth of manure. Annually, the farm produces approximately 2,620 tons of solid manure and 21 tons of mortality compost. Some manure is used as a nutrient source for corn/soybean rotation and the rest is distributed to others for crops.
Anyone can submit written comments and/or request a public meeting on the draft permit by 5 p.m. on July 31. Comments can be mailed to ODA’s Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting at 8995 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, OH. 43068 or emailed to [email protected]. A copy of the draft permit can be obtained by completing a public records request at https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/legal-office/public-records-site-area.
