Several years ago, Little Portion Monastery Farm, run by the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, found a niche in one of northwest Arkansas’ main industries — poultry production.
The members of the hermitage, located near Berryville in Carroll County, live by a Rule and Constitution to be agrarian and to pursue a contemplative life. These aims, coupled with a desire to be self-sustaining, led them to the natural foods market for pasture-raised chickens.
“We’re really devoted as good stewards to be environmentally responsible,” said Richard Ims, a member of the monastery involved in the chicken production.
The farm does not use pesticide or herbicide, and the pasture-raised chickens are raised in small groups and fed non-genetically modified grain from a local farmer. Members of the hermitage went from raising chickens for their own use to producing up to 660 chickens for sale every two weeks.
With the success of its poultry production, the farm would like to expand into chicken processing. But this plan has some of the farm’s neighbors worried about the effect it would have on local water systems.
Currently the farm sends its chickens to Pel-freez, a USDA processing facility in Rogers, and Ims said the farm will continue to do that for the foreseeable future.
“It’s not our intention to do our own slaughter for some time,” Ims said.
However, the farm decided in 2008 to add facilities to do further processing. Members would be able to take boned chicken and make “value-added products” like chicken sausage and broth.
In spring 2009 the farm started work on the new building, which will also hold a freezer to use instead of paying for cold storage in Rogers, Ims said.
Little Portion started developing its plan when it applied for a no discharge permit with the water division of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality in November 2008.
In August 2009 a public hearing was held on the plan, and the ADEQ approved a permit for the plan, including the farm’s plan for wastewater. The permit was issued Oct. 1.
On Oct. 30 a group of neighbors requested a review and hearing by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission and began the appeal process.
“All of us live in the approximate vicinity of the monastery,” said Pat Costner, spokesperson for the group of petitioners. “I rely on a private well. We want the monastery to treat the wastewater so it’s not a threat to groundwater.”
On Dec. 11 the commission scheduled the preliminary hearing to reconvene Jan. 14, once all parties had filed their motions, briefs and responses. At that time Judge Michael O’Malley, the administrative hearing officer, will handle pending motions and set a hearing date.
Costner does not approve of the plans to use a septic system or a leach field to deal with wastewater, which is “pretty much standard,” Ims said.
According to Ims, a leach field is a natural water treatment system. In this system the remains of the chickens would be composted, and the blood would be captured. This would leave only “gray water,” or the spray water off the chicken, going into 600 feet of leach line.
For the ADEQ, “we’re not even a blip on the screen. They’re used to huge discharges,” Ims said.
Costner and the other petitioners are concerned about the leach field because they believe it could contaminate local waterways, including Kings River, which is less than five miles away, Ims said.
“We want to address legitimate concerns,” Ims said. “The state guarantees the system will work.”
The department certainly feels the permit was adequate, said Aaron Sadler, public information officer for the department.
“We believe the system will be protective of the environment,” Sadler said.
A research chemist and former senior scientist for Greenpeace International, Costner wrote a small book critical of septic systems in 1986 titled “We All Live Downstream.” She would like to see the farm use a system other than a septic system.
“If I had my way, no one would be on a septic system,” Costner said.
“There are a wide variety of technologies in use for such enterprises,” she said. “I hope with all my heart that the monastery can and will take a different course, one that won’t make our groundwater collateral for their slaughterhouse business.”
One reason the farm is eager to increase its business is the monastery is still recovering from a major fire in April 2008.
“10,000 feet burned down,” including the monastery’s chapel, library, kitchen and dining room, Ims said.
The extra income from the sales of value-added products could assist in the rebuilding, he said.
“We are crammed in a tiny space right now. We would love to have the chicken business to help in the rebuilding process,” Ims said.
Members also wanted to build a facility capable of serving as a slaughterhouse in the future because Pel-freez is the only business in the area that processes poultry for small producers.
But at this point, everything is on hold.
“We’re somewhat on the sidelines watching the dispute happen,” Ims said.
“The permit dispute is really holding us up,” he said. “We are trying to do everything properly. It just takes time.”
“We want to hear the opposing side. It’s got to be a legit thing — not a philosophical issue, a lawful issue,” he said.
