(Photos by Lauren Williamson)
A small, hand-painted sign along the side of IL-78 points the way to Nora, Ill.

By Lauren Williamson, Medill

“Go up the road that way, then turn this way when you get to the grocery store, and once you make it around the corner, you’ll go between the pickup truck and the bushes. And turn that way again.”

As a city dweller married to internet mapping and a highway atlas that proved worthless to find unpaved back roads, I relied on word-of-mouth directions such as these during my trip to Jo Daviess County in northwest Illinois. I definitely wasn’t in Chicago anymore.

But Nora is experiencing a culture-shock of its own as corporate farming moves into the village, population 116, bringing with it the kind of environmental and economic controversies associated with industrial complexes on Lake Michigan rather than the sun-dappled banks of the Apple River.

A.J. Bos, a California-based dairy farmer, obtained authorization from the state of Illinois at the end of May to begin construction on a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, one mile west of Nora. It could conceivably house 10,000 dairy cows within the next few years.

So divisive is the CAFO that people in Nora who talk about it are reluctant to give their names and point to one family where the children no longer speak to their mother after she sold her property to Bos.

Construction on the dairy operation began in June after the county court denied a request for an emergency restraining order from residents who said they fear the environmental havoc of the manure from such a large-scale facility.

But other townspeople see the dairy as an opportunity to revitalize the sagging Nora economy. We met with Mayor Mark Mullen and local farmers on Tuesday night at the Nora Bar, the sole business downtown.

Many people we spoke with are desperate to bring more jobs to the area. With the population dropping between each census, Nora can’t spare any more migration to cities with better opportunities.

On the other side of the mega-dairy controversy, there’s Tom Bergstrom. As vice president of Helping Others Maintain Environmental Standards, he said that everyone will move out of Nora anyway within five years if the dairy pollutes at the level some researchers expect. A report from the Iowa Center for Agricultural Health and Safety supports Bergstrom’s assertion, saying CAFOs like the one under construction outside of Nora often cause “declines in local business purchases, physical infrastructure and population.”

There’s a lot to lose in Jo Daviess County. The Apple River Canyon State Park shelters one of the most biologically diverse and pristine natural habitats in Illinois. Limestone bluffs that cradle the river provide a home to eagles, more than 500 plant species and, as we discovered, very large and very brave wild turkeys.

The riches in wildlife throughout the county are staggering. Based on the number of birds, foxes and rodents who ventured fearlessly into my car’s path, it’s a near-miracle none of them fell victim to my tires. My cameraman and News21 reporter Rob Runyan would add his survival to that list of graces. He claimed I “scared him to death” each time I swerved to avoid yet another creature.

People were nice but suspicious of me and I can understand why. I was advised not to ask questions in the Nora Bar that could suggest I had a leaning one way or another on the dairy. At one point, I mentioned contact I’d had with H.O.M.E.S., the activist group opposing the dairy, and a line of heads at the bar turned in my direction. I assured the patrons my only job is to fairly present all sides of the situation.

Coming soon to News21projects.org is a video documentary of my two days in Jo Daviess County covering the dairy controversy through interviews with residents, activists and local politicians.