Are hog farms at fault for a contaminated church well? Facts for your consideration

Agriculture may be North Carolina’s largest industry, but the farmers who produce our food remain under constant attack.

There’s a coordinated effort being led by groups that want to shut down our farms. A key part of their strategy involves paying for “news stories” that portray our industry in a negative light.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of those groups. Its latest “sponsored story,” in an obscure online publication, takes aim at North Carolina hog farms, blaming the industry for contaminating water in a church well.

Dozens of these stories have been published over the years. Many of them begin with a dramatic story, containing a tiny sliver of truth, that is designed to spark outrage among readers.

For many years, these stories featured a Duplin County woman claiming that hog waste was being sprayed eight feet from her kitchen window. It would be horrible if it were true.

In reality, there was a 100-yard forest between her home and the nearest sprayfield. Also worth noting: the farmer hadn’t used that sprayfield in years. Nevertheless, she continued to show up in article after article with complaints of constant, unbearable odor and claiming her house was sprayed with lagoon water from the sprayfield.

Now, a new story — also false — is starting to appear in attacks on North Carolina hog farms.

This one takes place at a church in Sampson County. There’s a well on the property with contaminated water. The preacher claims a nearby hog farm is most certainly the culprit.

But there’s no evidence whatsoever to support that claim. And the church isn’t interested in finding the truth.

The folks at Smithfield Foods, which operates the nearby farm, were concerned. They studied the situation and made an important discovery: the church is located at a higher elevation than the hog farm. Which means any waste coming from the farm would have to travel uphill to reach the church.

Based on physics, it seemed unlikely that the farm is responsible for any issues with the church’s well water, but they wanted to be sure. So, they wrote the preacher a letter.

We’d like to meet with you to discuss the situation, they said. And we’d like to pay for a forensic study of the groundwater to pinpoint the cause of the contamination, they told the preacher. We’ll reimburse you for the cost of the new well if we are at fault.

He didn’t respond. So, Smithfield sent another letter. The preacher’s failure to respond surprised them.

He declined their offer to meet. Apparently, he didn’t want to talk with them about the issues with the nearby farm. And he wasn’t interested in a study that would shine a light on where the contamination was coming from. However, he continues to malign the hog farms in the media, always tied to an article sponsored by an activist group. One of which, his daughter happens to work for.

Maybe that’s why he’s not really interested in the truth.

Never Enough--Activist Never Satisfied with Hog Farmer Efforts

For decades, North Carolina’s family farmers have consistently striven to make our farms better. We work hard to raise animals more safely, more efficiently, and more sustainably. To operate in a way that better protects our air, water, and land. To farm today for tomorrow with your family and our families in mind. To take advantage of new technologies that allow us to make improvements in everything we do. The list goes on and on.

 And yet, no matter what we do, it’s never enough.

 Those who are steadfastly opposed to animal agriculture are never satisfied with the proactive or positive steps our farmers take to improve our operations. Here are just a few examples:

 MORATORIUM ON CONSTRUCTION OF NEW PIG FARMS

When North Carolina imposed a moratorium on the construction of new pig farms in 1997, it wasn’t enough. Neither were the strict regulations that include annual, in-person inspections of every pig farm in the state.

 The activists aren’t satisfied with simply stopping our growth — they want existing farms to go away.  Fortunately, North Carolina’s pork business continues to thrive even though no new pig farms have been built here for the past 23 years. While the number of farms and number of animals we raise here hasn’t changed much in the past two decades, North Carolina remains one of the nation’s leading pork producers.

 CLOSING LAGOONS IN FLOOD PRONE AREAS   

Following widespread flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the pork industry took steps to ensure our farms were better protected during future storms. This included efforts to voluntarily close farms located in the 100-year floodplain.

 Since 2000, 42 pig farms (and more than 100 lagoons) located in floodplains have been closed. An additional 231 out-of-service lagoons have been permanently closed. But it’s still not enough, the activists say.

 EMBRACING SUSTAINABILITY

Today, American pig farmers are producing twice as much as pork as they did 50 years ago, while using fewer resources than ever before. As part of our commitment to sustainability, farmers now use 76% less land, 25% less water, and 7% less energy [source].

In addition, North Carolina is at the forefront of the movement to generate clean, renewable energy on our pig farms. By capturing methane gas and converting it to biogas, pig farmers play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Surprise, surprise — those steps don’t satisfy the activists either. Several “environmental” groups are actively opposing our efforts to generate renewable energy. It makes you wonder if they are more interested in protecting our environment or putting our farms out of business.

 Well, what exactly do they want?

 Let’s start with Sen. Cory Booker, the Democratic Senator from New Jersey. An outspoken critic of our farms (and a proud vegan), Booker has proposed a federal ban on farms with more than 2,500 pigs. This would potentially shut down 2,300 pig farms in North Carolina, most of which are family owned and operated.

Closer to home, the leader of the NC Environmental Justice Network wants to take things even further. In a recent news article, Naemma Muhammad said she believes pig farmers “need to be in jail.” Nevermind the pesky little fact these farmers are legally operating with a state permit — and following the toughest environmental regulations in the nation.

Other groups have a different agenda altogether: no more meat, period. They want to see an end to all animal agriculture and the elimination of all meat products. Imagine a world with no bacon or barbecue, no hamburgers or chicken tenders — that’s their version of paradise!

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what these groups think about the improvements we are making. As responsible farmers who care about our environment and our communities, we remain determined to keep moving forward every day.

In the words of Elanor Roosevelt, “do what you feel in your heart to be right—for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." We’ll continue to do what we know to be right and continue to work hard to feed a hungry nation.

Fourth Hog Nuisance Case in in Favor of Plaintiffs... but Barely

The jury in the Fourth Hog Nuisance case against Smithfield gave a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. However, it was not a landslide decision. Not only did the jury declare to be hung at one point during deliberation, but they also decided to award the lowest compensatory damages to date. Four plaintiffs received $100. Two were awarded $1000 each. One was awarded $25,000, and the last was given $75,000.

 Although technically another negative verdict for hog farmers, we are grateful and (dare we say) excited that jury members recognized that hog farms do not ruin people’s lives so much as to award millions and millions of dollars.

 Plaintiff’s council asked the jury to award each plaintiff $4-5 million. We commend the jury for taking a reasonable approach. The claim that hog farms are a nuisance was given much doubt in this case, as seen by the jury’s difficulty in coming to a unanimous decision and because of the low awards. Punitive damages will be determined in the days to come.

 We are disappointed that hog farms are being heralded as a nuisance, and saddened at all of the families and jobs these verdicts negatively impact. However, we are clinging to the hope that doubt has been spread regarding the misinformation and tall tales being told about our farm families.

 The next trial is scheduled for January. It will once again be against Joey Carter and be presided over by Judge Britt.

 Farming is the profession of hope. We are weary, but hopeful yet.

 -The NC Farm Family Team