N orth Carolina is the second-largest hog farming state in the country. Since the 1970s, the hog farming industry has been changing — shifting from many smaller operations into consolidations resulting in fewer but larger farms.
This shift in the nature of the hog industry has been bad for the health of North Carolinians. To combat this change, the state should favor subsidies for smaller community farms to allow them to compete with federally subsidized factory farms.
The introduction of industrial-scale hog farming in North Carolina was accompanied by a 14.1 percent rise in employment in the hog farming industry during the past two decades. This growth has stimulated North Carolina’s economy, but only at an unacceptable cost to health.
Hog farms in North Carolina use the lagoon-and-spray-field method, in which hog waste is funneled into lagoons and then sprayed onto the land. The Environmental Protection Agency suggests that lagoons reduce waste odors, but evidently not enough to satisfy nearby residents.
Odors are not the only problems hog farms cause for their neighbors. Breathing in gases and fecal particles can lead to chronic health problems.
Manure runoff from the fields can leach into groundwater and streams, destroying aquatic ecosystems and potentially harming infants who are exposed to it in drinking water.
Large-scale operations in the industry have had their places in the market reinforced because they are able to keep the price of pork low while providing high-quality meat. As a result, many smaller farms have been crowded out.
