The Real Price of Pork

Pork brings 46 thousand jobs and $9 billion in the east along with tax revenue.

But some claim it also brings big health and environmental problems.

These days, many farms don’t just raise pigs and lead them to the slaughter house.

Hog Farmer Gerald Warren, who runs Warren Farms, explained, “We grow a lot of slow cured tobacco, wheat, corn, soy beans, sweet potatoes, cotton”

The farm has been in his family for five generations. He says each crop relies on the other. “In our operation, the live stock segment really compliments the row crop because we find a lot of value in the manure products.“

The manure he is talking about comes from lagoons. They’re next to the hog houses and filled with raw hog waste that is sprayed onto fields to help crops grow.

“We apply in a responsible way that we don’t get any run off. We apply in a way that we get uniform coverage so that you don’t have spots that you have higher concentration than others,“ said Warren.

But spraying is a major issue for many people who live next to these farms. Devon Hall is the founder of reach, The Rural Empowerment Association for Community Health.

It’s a small community organization in Duplin County, a county with more than 2 million hogs and less than 50,000 people.

Hall said, “I guess myself, like many others, never thought it would get this big and there would be so many problems.“

He says the biggest of those many problems are health related.

Violet Branch has lived on the same property in Duplin County since 1943.

“I was here long before the hog farm was,” Branch said.

She lives right across the street from a spray field and says she now has to use an inhaler.

She says when the farm is pumping the waste onto the field, the smell is unbearable and it’s when she has the worst problems breathing.“

So why not just leave if the industry creates that kind of problem for her? Branch said, “Why should I? I mean I’m home!“

Hall says he understands the benefits of the hog industry. He says he doesn’t want them out of the state - just in a cleaner state than they are now.

“We’re not saying we want the industry to go away, were not saying we want anyone to go out of business but be a better neighbor,“ said Hall.

But Warren lives on the same land where he raises the hogs.

He said, “I live here every day, I drink the water here every day, I breath the air here every day and my whole life’s work is right here.“
Warren says he and his family haven’t had any health problems at all from the farm and when it comes to questions about environmental impact, Warren said, “I think our industry as a whole is the most environmentally sound that it’s ever been.“

But try telling that to Hall and you get a much different answer.

Hall said, “Not only is the air contaminated but you have surface and ground water contamination as well.“

Branch has these test pipes in her front yard to test the groundwater. She says those tests showed major pollution. She now drinks county water.

While there is no proving the hog farm is responsible for her contaminated water – Branch says all the proof she needs is right across the street.

Back on the hog farm, Warren points to twice a year inspections and strict records that are required of all hog farms showing when, where and how much they spray.

Warren said, “If you put your money in the bank, why would you want to go burn the bank down? That wouldn’t be a very smart thing to do. So why would I want to pollute the environment here?“

But environmentalists point out that not every farmer is as honest and caring as Mr. Warren.

Lower Neuse Riverkeeper Larry Baldwin points to years of unchecked growth and legislative pressure.

Baldwin said, “The hog industry in North Carolina is a very powerful lobbying group. So they are able to put on the political power.“ And that political power, according to environmentalists, has put all of us at risk.

According to a Pulitzer Prize winning investigation by the News and Observer, North Carolina has weaker environmental regulations for hog farms than any major hog-producing state.

Compared to Missouri, Iowa and even neighboring Virginia, North Carolina has lenient requirements for lagoon construction, minimum buffer zones between hog farms and neighbors, and seepage from lagoons into the ground.

Making matters worse, environmentalists say the state minimally enforces the rules that are in place.

You can find a link to that report and pork council documents showing their environmental efforts and rebuttal to those who question their impact by clicking on the links below.

http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/5892

http://www.ncpork.org/index.jsp

http://www.ncpork.org/pages/environment/regulations.jsp