A central Illinois farmer has been awarded more than $24,000 in damages after his neighbors tried unsuccessfully to stop construction of his large hog facility.

An Illinois appeals court awarded the damages to Robert Young of Rochester, increasing the $500 initially awarded by a circuit court in 2010.

The farmer first sought $297,000 for lost income, legal fees, delays and other costs. He runs a 3,600-hog facility for 1 of the nation's largest pork processers.

The State Journal-Register in Springfield reports (http://bit.ly/Pkj73g ) that the 4th District Appellate Court returned the case to Sangamon County Circuit Court for the new award.

Neighbors in 2007 organized the Rochester Buckhart Action Group and filed a lawsuit. They claimed Young's hog facility would threaten health and the environment and would lower their property values.