American Smellscapes: Blame It on Greeley
The WSJ spotlights a Colorado town’s stinky reputation
The A-head column in today’s WSJ is titled “Why Realtors Have Embraced Brutal Honesty. ‘Smells Like a Farmtown.’”
It’s about realtors no longer trying to paper over the downsides of properties and communities.
His online pitch for relocation opportunities to Greeley, Colo., is heavy on B-roll of cloudless skies meeting the jagged horizon of snow-capped Rocky Mountains. Clad in a homey checked shirt, Mr. Eklund also launches into “reasons why you might regret moving to Greeley.”
“It smells like a farmtown,” Mr. Eklund says into the camera as the video pans to cattle ranches. “If this is something that might bother you, you might want to reconsider.”
Being upfront about ag smells is a good idea—a lot of conflict comes when starry-eyed suburbanites move to the countryside and become enraged once they get a snootful of the local economy. Reality check: Dairy farms smell like cow manure. Sugar beet refineries are stinky.
I live 18 miles from Greeley as the fart flies. Several days a year, when the breeze is just right, Fort Collins smells like cowpie and everyone in town reflexively blames Greeley.
In their town’s defense the Greeley Tribune notes while ripe odors were common in the 1980s and 90s, things have changed. There are no longer feedlots within the city limits and the town’s big meat packing plant has installed scrubbers and taller stacks to reduce smelly emissions.
Those of us who grew up around agriculture take these smells in stride. We even have, dare I say, a somewhat refined sense of them. Cattle, horse, and sheep are on three entirely different parts of the barnyard olfactory spectrum. The drive to this great Mexican restaurant in Ault runs past a sheep feedlot. I like to lower the windows for full effect—sheep shit is more focused and intense than cow manure and it arrives wrapped in the clammy scent of wet wool.
As my grandfather used to say, “Breath deep, it’s good for you.”