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A public meeting of the Premium Standard Farms (PSF) Expert Team will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16, at North Central Missouri College in Trenton at Ketcham Community Center, according to Attorney General Chris Koster. His office will moderate.

Koster said the three-member Expert Team was established in 1999 when the state entered a consent judgment with PSF to correct problems at PSF farms, including water pollution and odors coming from the farms. The Expert Team was given the authority to make decisions regarding how PSF would develop and implement Next Generation Technology to address these problems. He said in 2004, PSF and the state agreed to a new consent judgment that extended the Expert Team process.

Expert Team members were selected by agreement of PSF and the state. Serving on the team are Dr. John Sweeten, Texas A&M University faculty member and director of the Texas AgriLife Research Extension Center at Amarillo, Texas; Dr. Mike Williams, faculty member at North Carolina State University, Department of Poultry Science; and Dr. Larry Jacobson, who has a Ph.D. in agricultural engineering and is a faculty member at the University of Minnesota.

Koster said the team last met in person on Nov. 24, 2009, to talk about technical issues raised by PSF. He said at that meeting, they agreed to have a public meeting in early 2010 and asked the Attorney General's office to organize and moderate that meeting.

"This meeting will provide an opportunity for members of the public to express their interests and concerns regarding the process established in the 1999 and 2004 consent judgments," Koster said. "I hope everyone who has comments and questions will take part."

Koster has stated that if the expert panel approves the biofilter technology, he could agree to extend the consent decree, but it would include an aggressive implementation schedule and penalties for failing to meet the schedule.

Next Tuesday's public meeting comes on the heels of an $11 million award by a Jackson County jury to 15 people from seven families in a lawsuit against PSF over odor. The jury deliberated about eight hours before rendering its verdict involving claims against PSF's hog farm operations in Gentry County.

The Kansas City Star reported that after a month-long trial, the jury last Thursday gave 13 plaintiffs $850,000 each. The 14th plaintiff received $250,000 because she and her husband, who still farms the land, live elsewhere. The daughter of one couple, the 15th plaintiff, now lives in St. Joseph and received $75,000.

According to that newspaper, PSF plans to appeal. In its post-trial statement, PSF officials asked the Missouri General Assembly to get involved. PSF claims it is in compliance with state and federal laws and has a permit to operate.

The case was the second time the 15 plaintiffs have sued PSF over odors. The first time, in 1999, they were among a total of 52 farmers who received $5.2 million total, or $100,000 each.

PSF has now lost three of four jury trials involving plaintiffs represented by Kansas City attorney Charlie Speer, according to the Kansas City Star. The awards now total almost $21 million.

A showdown between all involved interests appears imminent this summer. The key question is whether Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster will extend a July deadline to allow PSF more time to solve odor problems at its huge hog operations.

In 1999 PSF agreed to clean up its factory farms after the state sued it. The corporation promised to spend $25 million installing biofilters in hits barns to lessen odors. PSF received an extension in 2004, that carried a July 2010 deadline, and the corporation is now asking for another extension.

Premium Standard Farms is a major employer in North Missouri with offices in Kansas City. The company's corporate parent is Smithfield Foods, the largest hog producer in the country.

Attorney General Koster addressed citizens during a public meeting held last month in Princeton soon after PSF began threatening to leave its operations in Missouri. About 1,500 people packed the school gymnasium, concerned about the loss of approximately 2,500 jobs at its farms located in seven counties.