Farm bureaus, businesses nationwide support Hudson family in legal battle

(Feb. 3, 2012) Farm bureaus across the country are supporting the Berlin farm family being sued by the New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance.

The Arkansas Farm Bureau, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the Mississippi Farm Bureau, the North Dakota Farm Bureau and others have joined SaveFarmFamilies. Org to support Alan and Kristin Hudson in their legal fight. Major businesses Southern States Cooperative and Rabobank International and state organizations Maryland Grain Producers and the Maryland Pork Producers have also joined.

Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips and the Waterkeeper Alliance filed a federal lawsuit in the District Court of Maryland against the Hudsons and Perdue Farms in 2010 because of what they thought was a manure pile on the 200- acre farm. As it turned out, it was not manure, but biosolids from the Ocean City wastewater treatment plant, which are commonly used as fertilizer on farms.

Water samples from ditches running past the pile of biosolids, however, revealed high levels of pollutants, which Phillips and the Waterkeeper Alliance said was a violation of the Clean Water Act.

The Maryland Department of the Environment investigated the issue and asked the Hudsons, who are contract chicken growers for Perdue, to move the pile to a different site, which they did. The only other thing the Hudsons were told to do was spread the biosolids during the next crop-growing season, the department said.

Since then, the lawsuit has continued, although Phillips, who is also the executive director of the Assateague Coastal Trust, is no longer a party to it. A judge dismissed her as a plaintiff because her address and telephone number were not included in the notice that a lawsuit would be filed, which is required.

The Waterkeepers now say that pollutants from chicken manure entered the ditches because they were blown there by exhaust fans in the chicken houses or got there from foot traffic of people going into and out of the chicken houses.

This, according to SaveFarmFamilies.org “is unsupported by any credible scientific evidence and appears to be a maneuver to keep legal and financial pressure on the Hudsons. The Waterkeepers attack on agriculture in Maryland is much more than the lawsuit against the Hudsons.”

The Hudsons’ legal bills have not only continued, but have increased. Support for them, however, has increased as well.

The Wicomico County Young Farmers and Ranchers, the Maryland Farm Bureau and Perdue started SaveFarmFamilies.org and the Family Farmers Legal Defense Fund to raise funds for what they call the Waterkeepers’ practice of bankruptcy by litigation.

They say the Waterkeeper Alliance continues their lawsuits until people are forced into bankruptcy before the case ever reaches a courtroom and they want to raise sufficient funds for the Hudsons to continue to fight their legal battle.

Fundraisers continue to be held to help the Hudsons pay their legal bills. The most recent fundraiser was a chicken and dumplings dinner at the Showell Fire Hall on Jan. 20. The next fundraiser is scheduled to be held Saturday, Feb. 18, at Queen Anne’s County 4-H Park.

That fundraiser, sponsored by the farm bureaus of five counties, will include live and silent auctions, raffles and local food. All proceeds will support the Hudsons.