|
The Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
Buckeye
Egg owner says he wants out
Friday,
October 20, 2000
Paul
Souhrada
Dispatch Business Reporter
Anton
Pohlmann, the embattled owner of Buckeye Egg Farm, says he's had enough.
Long
the target of activists and lawsuits over Buckeye Egg's environmental record,
Pohlmann said he intends to relinquish control of the nation's fourth-largest
egg company.
"I
want to stay out of this business now, with all the problems we have had,''
said Pohlmann, who has put his home and 288-acre Licking County horse farm up
for sale.
He
said he has not decided whether to bring in new partners who would oversee the
operation or to lease the business as he did between 1980 and '93. During that
period, Pohlmann financed operations while leaving management to others. The
combination allowed Buckeye Egg, then known as AgriGeneral, to grow into a
7,000-acre complex in Hartford, about 25 miles northeast of Columbus.
Pohlmann
likely will split the company, with one group running the Licking County site
and another taking over a newer complex in Hardin and Wyandot counties near
Marion.
He
intends to complete the transition within two years, he said.
Dan
Perkins, a longtime critic of Buckeye Egg, says he doubts the new barns or
Pohlmann's departure will do much to improve the situation.
"The
place is a factory farm and it's just too damn big,'' said Perkins, who has
lived for 52 years on a farm next to Buckeye Egg and is suing the company.
"It produces too much manure and too many flies.''
Chuck
Twyford, owner of the Arter Insurance Agency in Hartford, said Perkins and
other critics have been a little hard on Pohlmann.
"I
think (the egg farm) probably lowered property values a little bit,'' Twyford
said. "But I think he's done some things to make things right, too. I
think he's disappointed in the way things worked out.''
Pohlmann's
equestrian estate is listed for $10 million with R.K. Morris & Associates
in New Albany. A classified ad in the Wall Street Journal says the 2-year-old
Hartford Farm has a 7,000-square-foot home with indoor pool and a 70-stall
barn/stadium with arena, lounge and office.
"Truly
the most complete facility nationally,'' the ad says.
Pohlmann
said he built the horse farm -- which adjoins the egg farm -- for his daughter,
a horse enthusiast. But she did not want to leave the family's home in Germany.
Worried
that Pohlmann would liquidate his assets and leave the United States, state
Attorney General Betty Montgomery asked a Licking County judge in June to
freeze the company's assets and Pohlmann's personal fortune. State regulators
feared that only a shell company would be left to face possible punishment.
Buckeye
Egg, whose 15 million chickens produce 4 percent of the nation's eggs, has been
hit with a series of legal attacks since December. State regulators say the
company is responsible for air pollution, hundreds of manure spills and swarms
of flies and other pests. At least two other lawsuits have been filed by neighbors.
Common
Pleas Judge Gregory Frost refused the state's request to seize assets, but
Pohlmann said the tactic was the final straw. The trial on the state lawsuit is
scheduled to begin Jan. 3.
"We
are not perfect,'' Pohlmann said. "But I feel I have not received fair
treatment.''
Pohlmann,
a German, says he was targeted by the state because he is a foreigner. At age
61, he said he is no longer interested in fighting.
"It
might be better if American people run the company and not me.''
Pohlmann
has sold more than half of the farmland surrounding his egg-laying complexes
for roughly $20 million. The sell-off was driven by low egg prices that
exacerbated the company's cash-flow problems.
Prices
have rebounded in recent months, and the company is on firmer financial ground,
Pohlmann said.
Most
of Buckeye Egg's difficulties complying with the state's environmental laws can
be traced to the poor condition of its facilities in Licking County, said
Jennifer Detwiler, a Montgomery spokeswoman.
"The
state's goal is, was and will continue to be environmental compliance -- no
matter who is running the farm,'' she said. "If a change in management is
going to help that, so be it.''
A
tornado that destroyed a dozen barns on the Licking County farm last month
might help the company achieve environmental compliance.
Those
barns were among the company's oldest, and some were the source of the manure
spills that leeched into nearby streams during heavy rains. Insurance will
cover the replacement of the barns, which housed about 1 million chickens --
most of which had to be euthanized.
Cleanup
from the tornado should be completed today, he said.
The
company should be back at full production capacity by Sept. 1, Pohlmann said.
|
