Photo by Deb Gau Lyon County resident Kevin Evans, a neighbor of the landfill, expressed concerns about possible odor issues if the landfill accepted waste animals.

MARSHALL — Outbreaks of COVID-19 at meat processing plants around the region haven’t just slowed or halted production, Lyon County officials said Tuesday. They’ve also forced Minnesota pork producers to make the difficult choice to euthanize hogs, and to find ways to dispose of the carcasses.

So far, the Lyon County landfill has received three different inquiries about taking waste animals, said county Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder. While the landfill hasn’t yet accepted any animal carcasses, on Tuesday Schroeder and Lyon County commissioners talked about the county’s options. They decided to send information on possible composting sites in Lyon County to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

About three weeks ago, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency started sending out guidance to Minnesota landfills on the best ways to dispose of animal carcasses in the wake of COVID-19 outbreaks that have disrupted meat supply chains, Schroeder said.

COVID-19 hotspots, affecting hundreds of workers at the Smithfield pork plant in Sioux Falls and the JBS pork plant in Worthington, shut down the plants and left farmers without a way to slaughter their hogs. Last week, U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson said JBS would be starting the process of euthanizing market-weight hogs that were unable to be slaughtered.

The Smithfield and JBS plants reopened this week, but in a limited capacity. Meanwhile, a parcel of land near Round Lake in Nobles County has been set aside to compost thousands of euthanized hogs from both the JBS plant and area farmers, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The site started taking carcasses over the weekend.

The Lyon County landfill’s solid waste permit does allow the facility to dispose of animal carcasses, Schroeder said. However, he said, “That has not been our practice since about 2012,” partly because of space concerns and partly because of odor concerns. While the landfill didn’t receive odor complaints from neighboring properties the last time it accepted waste animals, “For the on-site staff, it was a nuisance at the time.”

Schroeder said Tuesday that so far the landfill has been approached by three pork producers with questions about accepting carcasses. But he didn’t know if the landfill would have enough space to handle disposal needs for large producers.

“The latest information is unclear,” as to how many pigs will need to be disposed of, he said.

There were two neighbors of the landfill property who attended the commissioner meeting on Tuesday. Kevin Evans said he was initially concerned about odor problems or possible water quality issues if the county started taking animal carcasses at the landfill. “I appreciate the consideration on this,” Evans told commissioners.

Schroeder said only three landfills in southern Minnesota were taking in euthanized animal carcasses: landfills in Olmsted County, Brown County and Nobles County.

Lyon County Soil and Water Administrator John Biren said he prepared soil maps of Lyon County townships, identifying possible alternative sites for burying or composting animal carcasses. The Minnesota Board of Animal Health would have to oversee the process, he said, but “The good news is there are sites in Lyon County.”

Biren said he would make the soil maps available to pork producers as a reference.

County Commissioner Rick Anderson said he would be abstaining from any votes on the matter, but he could provide information he had received from the state Department of Agriculture. Anderson said the state is looking for land where they could possibly compost hog carcasses. The carcasses would be ground up and then covered with a layer of carbon-based material like wood chips. If possible, the state is looking for compost sites that would avoid the loss of planted fields, he said.

Commissioner Charlie Anderson suggested sharing the information on possible compost sites with the state Department of Agriculture. That way, the state could take the lead and have oversight if a compost site is opened in Lyon County. Commissioners voted to pass the information on to Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Thom Petersen.