State agriculture department allows 4-million chicken egg farm in Darke County

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

The Ohio Department of Agriculture signed off on a company's plan to build a four million chicken egg farm in Allen Township.

The agency's director issued both a Permit to Install and a Permit to Operate Golden Heritage Egg Farm.

RELATED: $20 million egg farm topic of meeting in Darke County

The $20 million facility would have four million chickens in six barns and two buildings for manure storage.

In October, the ODA said it would take about two weeks to make a decision. However, the department's website lists Feb. 5th as the date the permits were issued.

In January, the Chief of the Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting said in an email, the delay was due to the high volume of comments on the matter.

During the waiting period, several people who live in the area told News Center 7's Molly Koweek, they were concerned about how the farm would smell, how it would impact their water supply, and how it would affect their property values.

Leaders for Golden Heritage Egg Farm did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday.

Previously, they said the company was doing tests to make sure the farm would not affect neighbors' water and the nearby woods would provide a ventilation to reduce odor.

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