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"Your disaster was a wake up call for us."
--South Carolina state senator Phil Leventis, explaining why his state enacted tough
restrictions on factory hog farms, June 11, 1998.
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During the past decade, North Carolina has become the unwitting site of a giant explosion. North Carolina's hog population has grown faster than any state in the nation,
swelling from 2.6 million to 10 million hogs since 1987. That's a 285% increase in hogs, compared to only a 14% increase in people.
North Carolina's hogs produce a mind-boggling amount of waste: 19 million tons of feces and urine a year, or over 50,000 tons every single day.
That's more waste in one year than the entire human population of Charlotte, North Carolina produces in 58 years! To make matters worse, almost all of North Carolina's hogs are
concentrated in the eastern coastal plain, an economically important and ecologically sensitive network of wetlands, rivers, and coastline.
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Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service |
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Managing of all this hog waste effectively presents a significant environmental challenge -- a challenge that is not being met by current regulations and industry practices. In many places,
the problems have simply overwhelmed North Carolina's communities and environment.
The nation is watching to see how North Carolina handles its hog problem. It is up to all of us
to demand solutions that will ensure that the "North Carolina example" is not a disaster to avoid, but instead, is a model to follow.
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