Preparing for Hurricane Florence

With the approach of Hurricane Florence, questions being asked about what are farmers doing to protect their animals and farms from potential floods?

The simple answer is: EVERYTHING THEY CAN!Hurricanes are not taken lightly in North Carolina, especially by farmers. We have seen first-hand the devastation that they produce. Actions have been taken, not just in days leading up to Hurricane Florence, but for years now to be better prepared for such natural disasters. Many hog farms in low areas prone to flooding have been closed since the Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Over 100 to be exact and more than 200 lagoons.Hurricane Matthew in 2016 saw that these improvements worked when only one farm sadly lost animals and 99.5% of hog lagoons did not flood. Those were tremendous strides, and those strides have continued through today.Farmers are at their farms right now securing their lagoons, making sure their generators are working, harvesting what crops they can, obtaining feed for their animals, and more. They will do all they can to make sure their animals are protected during the storm.Many people have expressed concern for the safety of the animals and for the damage flooding may cause on the hog farms. They are concerned for what pollution flooding may cause on hog farms. Know that farmers are concerned. They don’t want anything to happen to their farm or the animals. That’s why they work so hard to prepare for natural disasters.However, natural disasters are called that for a reason. Nature is unpredictable and merciless sometimes. And, our best efforts cannot compete with that of Mother Nature.In the face of a natural disaster, let us all prepare for the worst, pray for the best, and support one another.For further information on how farmers are preparing visit:  http://www.ncpork.org/prepared/   

Waterkeepers Spin Tall Tales Again: The Spin Lands on NPR

With the explosion of ‘Internet News’ – from the New York Times website to BuzzFeed – the 24-hour news cycle is roaring along, and that’s turned out to be an opportunity for the ‘spinners’ like the Waterkeeper’s Alliance. Because reporters under the gun have to turn out more stories faster and more often, the 'spinners' are taking advantage.‘Manure Happens, Especially When Hog Farms Flood’ – a recent headline on NPR’s website is one such example.The Waterkeepers had spun the same old tale, again, and scored, again – landing a story on NPR about “fields of filth” and how Hurricane Matthew had flooded 10 farms and 14 lagoons.The Waterkeepers apparently never said a word to NPR about the official state reports that showed 99.5% of the hog farms had no spills or leaks during the hurricane and NPR, probably rolling on to the next story, apparently never stopped to check the facts.If it had it would have learned there’re over 4,000 lagoons, and the Waterkeepers were only talking about 14 and ignoring 3986 of them to paint a false picture.And that’s how a ‘spin’ works.The result: NPR’s listeners were misled. And family farmers – who had succeeded 99.5% of the time during Hurricane Matthew – got hurt.

Know the facts. Support NC Farm Families.

For more information visit www.ncfarmfamilies.com