In 2015, the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter issued a report that found large factory farms in Lenawee County along with those in a county in Ohio were top producers of manure in the watershed that drains into the western basin of Lake Erie. It also found that between 2008 and 2015 Lenawee County was home to CAFOs with the most environmental violations, 67, and illegal discharges, 37, in the watershed.

A group called Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan ‒ which monitors CAFOs in the Lenawee County area – noted dozens of violations over the years by CAFOs in the county.

“We don’t support pollution by anyone, whether it is a failed septic tank or a small farm or a CAFO,” said Pam Taylor, an activist with the group.

“CAFOs are far worse, absolutely, because of the sheer amount of their animal waste.”

But Taylor added that she’s opposed to Amish farming practices as well – citing the disposal of human waste on the land – and said they should be barred from doing so.

“Putting human waste on the land is a problem,” she said.

As for oversight of CAFOs, Lenawee County administrator Marshall noted that it’s the state’s job to regulate agriculture – not the county’s. Indeed, the state has cited large Lenawee farms for alleged manure violations, including an operation 20 miles north of the Amish settlements for discharging thousands of gallons of liquid manure in incidents in 2010 and 2015.

The county, Marshall said, is compelled to enforce health codes relating to the disposal of waste produced by people.

“We have no authority with regard to those (CAFO) operations. We don’t have a huge duty there. Where we do have a duty is where it is related to human waste.”

Marshall said he’s not aware of any specific data – such as stream samples near Amish land – that document wider community health or sanitation risks from Amish outhouse waste.

Forsaking the modern world

According to the bishop, most of the Amish in his church community moved to Lenawee County from neighboring Hillsdale County in 2015, seeking room to farm. A community of about 150 people, they are clustered within nine miles of each other on farms in the southwestern corner of the county. They raise corn, oats and pumpkins as well as calves for outside cattle operations.

They are among an estimated 16,000 Amish in 50 settlements in Michigan, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. Their numbers have climbed by 45 percent since 2010, making Michigan the sixth largest state in Amish population.

The first Amish came to America beginning in the early 18th century to escape religious persecution in Europe and find land to farm. Their numbers came from a schism in the Anabaptist church by followers of Jakob Amman, a Swiss minister who believed adherents should “forsake the world” as much as possible in their daily lives.

“We believe in that because we want to go to Heaven,” the bishop told Bridge.

Bearded, with round wire rim glasses, he was dressed in plain black pants, suspenders and blue shirt, as was another man in the home that day, the community’s minister. Their wives wore long black dresses and white caps that are traditional in this sect. Unlit kerosene lanterns rested on a shelf over his head, above that, a windup clock.