Say no to Australia’s largest piggery expansion

UPDATE 1st March 2024- Submissions for this development application are now closed. Thanks to the 1,300+ of you who lodged an objection to speak up for the animals, environment and community. We will keep you updated as we can.

SP Northern’s piggery in Lundavra, near Goondiwindi, has lodged a development application to increase their licensed capacity to a staggering 236,070 ‘standard pig units’ (SPU). This development application follows a recent approval to their operating capacity to 131,320 SPU, however, they are yet to begin this expansion.

If the council approves this additional expansion, this piggery will hold the license for the largest piggery in Australia, legally able to house around 190,000 pigs at any one time.

The Goondiwindi Regional Council is accepting submissions from the public about this expansion until the 29th of February. Please lodge a submission to let the council know that you don’t support the approval of this massive factory farm.

We have provided a template for you below, but we recommend that you add your own words to maximise impact.

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Subject*

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Dear Goondiwindi Regional Council,

Objection re: Piggery Expansion, SP Northern Farming Operations, ref 22/40

Thank you for this opportunity to present a personal submission regarding the expansion of SP Northern Farming Operations’ Piggery at Calnbrook Road, Lundavra and Moonie Highway, Southwood.
In short, I strongly object to the application. The reasons for my objection are particularised below.

1. The impact of existing expansion approval is not yet able to be assessed.

This application comes less than 18 months after the property was approved for a significant expansion from 76,820 standard pig units (SPU) to 131,320 SPU. According to the application material, this expansion has not yet commenced, meaning that there is no opportunity for the applicant or council to properly assess the impact of this significant expansion on the land, water and sensitive receptors.

The applicants should be required to first reach their current licenced operating capacity, and allow for meaningful assessment of the associated impacts, such as consultation by neighbouring properties, testing of soil and groundwater and the impacts on the surrounding environment.

Given that the applicant has already received two approvals for expansion since 2019, increasing the operating capacity by over 70,000 SPU, the environment and other landowners need the opportunity to ensure that the impacts are not beyond what is reasonable, before granting a further expansion that would almost double capacity once again.

2. This development is less than 5km from a local school

It is of great concern to me that Lundavra State School is one of the closest sensitive receptors, being just 4,600m away. Concentrated animal feeding operations such as this piggery contribute to a lack of air quality, and typical pollutants found in the air surrounding CAFOs are ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, methane, and particulate matter, all of which have varying human health risks.

There is consistent evidence suggesting that factory farms often increase asthma in neighbouring communities, and odours from piggeries are commonly present up to 5 km away. Increasing the existing piggery will increase the health risks to the children and staff at the Lundavra State School.

3. Loss of biodiversity and pollution.

Intensive animal factory farms pose significant negative environmental risks and impacts on our unique rural landscapes. Indeed, intensive industrial animal farms — such as the application under discussion — have been an ongoing source and cause of environmental damage.

If this expansion were to be approved, this piggery would become the largest in Australia. It will produce over 63,000 tonnes of manure and effluent every year, all of which will create greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide, odours, decrease air quality and attract insects such as flies.

In addition to the manure that will be produced, there will be an increase in mortalities which will also result in increases in odour, attracting predators and affecting air quality. This has not been accounted for in the application.

This application and the associated impacts will also upset the biodiversity of the local area. Wide-scale impacts on biodiversity from factory farms like this often result in large-scale animal suffering and death, serious biosecurity risks, and associated impacts on human health and community welfare, other landowners, and potentially under-threat native wildlife.

4. Summary and conclusion: The detrimental impacts of intensive, 'factory' farming on animal welfare, the environment and human health.

Globally, experts agree that industrial, intensive farming — such as that proposed in the application — poses a real and serious threat to public health and safety, and I urge that this threat be taken into urgent consideration by the Council.

Approving intensive animal agriculture applications or expansions directly contributes to the loss of critical Aboriginal heritage, rapid decline in biodiversity, soil erosion and contamination, lack of surface and groundwater security, pollution including emissions caused by animal agriculture, and appalling animal cruelty — all of which are broadly held and valid public concerns.

Rather than allowing damaging, intensive animal agriculture to flourish in the region, I hope that Goondiwindi Regional Council will instead look at encouraging and approving sustainable ventures that work in harmony with the environment and align with social expectations, enrich the region and thereby improve the health and wellbeing of all community members.

Thank you for reading and considering my objection to the SP Northern Farming Operations Piggery Expansion, ref 22/40. For the reasons outlined above, I request that the Goondiwindi Regional Council, as consent authority, refuse the application.

Sincerely,

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