Northern Wisconsin is raising concerns about a proposed hog megafarm, which according to them will wash off the land and pollute Lake Superior with millions of gallons of pig manure.

An Iowa business, Reicks View Farms, of Lawler intends to produce thousands of pigs annually a few miles from Ashland and the shore of Chequamegon Bay. The company has extensive operations in its home state.

Gene Noem, director of swine operations for Reicks, said that his company was attracted to northern Wisconsin as it is far from hog-intensive areas of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and southern Wisconsin. According to him, the potential for spreading animal diseases is greater in those areas.

In records filed with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the company plans to house 7,500 sows, 18,750 pigs and 100 boars in Wisconsin.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, if the plan gets approved by state and federal regulators, the $17.7 million farm would be the largest hog farm in Wisconsin.

According to state officials, the Bayfield County farm, which is also being called as Badgerwood by the owners would become the largest concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, in far northern Wisconsin.

The project will be reviewed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to the concerns raised by Wisconsin American Indian tribes. This week, the state DNR is expected to announce whether to require a lengthy environmental impact statement.

The concern is about the odor and water pollution that will eventually come from the 6.8 million gallons of liquid manure spread annually on more than 800 acres in the White River and Fish Creek watersheds. It will flow into Lake Superior.