David Peterson’s Response to Jack Boles – Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Jack Boles, President of the Newton County Farm Bureau, has questioned a column by Mike Masterson which quotes from the Big Creek Research and Extension Team’s (BCRET) recent report of monitoring of the C&H Hog Farm in the Buffalo National River watershed. See, “Argument Flawed” 8-30-18. Since the Arkansas Farm Bureau is funding C&H’s legal fight to keep its operation alive, one can hardly expect objectivity from Mr. Boles. But in this case, Mr. Boles is proving a larger point. It is undisputed that excess nutrients in the Buffalo River create algae blooms which in turn cause water quality degradation. Farming activities (hogs, chicken and cattle), the attendant conversion of forest to pasture and the resulting animal wastes are the primary cause of the decline in water quality in the Buffalo River. Mr. Boles and his organization appear to be just fine with this. But let’s look more closely at the point Mr. Boles tries to make. He claims that BCRET’s monitoring Field 5a is not receiving wastes from C&H and thus Mr. Masterson’s statement that C&H’s waste is leaving Field 5a is “cherry picking the facts.” What Mr. Boles fails to inform your readers is that the Field 5a catchment [...]