You’ve heard us say it many times before — repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it. The Fayetteville Observer is the latest media outlet to fall victim to spreading false allegations about North Carolina’s hog farms and the people who live near them with no regard for the facts.
In a recent story about the opposition to renewable natural gas projects, the Observer repeats a long-debunked claim from activist: that hog farms “are located in or around communities made up of mostly Black, Hispanic or Latino and Native American people."
It’s a claim that fits neatly into the narrative of environmental racism, but there’s one small problem: it’s simply not true.
The state’s four leading hog producing counties are Sampson, Duplin, Bladen and Wayne counties. Click on the links and take a look at the demographics of those communities. A majority of the population is white.
In Sampson and Duplin counties, the state’s two largest hog producing counties and the communities closest to the Align RNG project, white residents outnumber black residents by a margin of nearly 2-to-1.
This data is consistent with a study commissioned several years ago by the NC Pork Council to examine the demographics around every permitted hog farm in the state. The study found that 68% of hog farms in North Carolina are in areas where black residents make up 30 percent or fewer of the population.
The chart below shows who lives near our hog farms:
We shared this information with the reporter, to no avail. NC Farm Families will continue sharing the facts about our farms and highlighting the proven environmental benefits of biogas projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and general renewable energy.