2019 Year in Review

Before we step into a new decade, let’s take a quick look back at 2019 and everything that happened here at NC Farm Families and in our communities. We are so thankful that you have been with us — through the good and the bad — every step along the way. We could not do what we do without your support. Whenever you like or share a post, or speak up in support of our farmers, it makes a difference in our efforts to protect our farm families. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for believing in us and supporting our work.

A Successful Farm Tour with NC Legislators

One of our goals at NC Farm Families is to educate the public and tell the stories of our farmers. We hosted a farm tour in July that allowed us to do both with more than two dozen legislators from both sides of the aisle. It was a great opportunity for our lawmakers to get a first-hand look at farms and meet real farmers.

The tour began at a feed mill in Warsaw, then moved on to turkey farms, hog farms, and a renewable energy project that is now turning hog waste into natural gas. Along the way, the legislators engaged in real conversations with our family farmers. They peeked inside barns, stood next to lagoons, and saw for themselves what it is like to live and work on a North Carolina farm. We are so grateful to each and every one of the legislators who took time out of their busy schedule to join us, and a special thank you to Rep. Jimmy Dixon for helping organize the tour and to the individual farmers who graciously opened their farms to visitors.
We believe there is no better way to showcase the importance of North Carolina’s family farms than to let people see them for themselves. We hope to host more farm tours in 2020.

Nuisance Lawsuits

The nuisance lawsuits that threaten NC hog farmers continued in 2019. A fifth trial was held in Raleigh, and a jury again sided against Murphy-Brown and our farmers in March. In the five trials held so far, juries have awarded plaintiffs a total of $550 million in damages.

As we look to next year, future nuisance trials remain on hold until Murphy-Brown’s appeal is heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals. Arguments in the case are scheduled for January 28-31, 2020 as the appeals court considers requests to dismiss the case, reverse the punitive damages award, and/or order a new trial. Rulings are typically issued 3-6 months after oral arguments are heard.

Shining A Light on Our Farmers

The best way to learn about our industry is to meet the family farmers across North Carolina. We continued to introduce you to new farms and new families through our “Faces of Farm Families” series. These features always receive a wonderful response and we look forward to continuing these features in the new year. If you know of a family that should be featured, let us know!

General Permit

As the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) considered changes to the general permit for swine and other livestock operations, NC Farm Families helped make sure our farmers’ voices   were heard at public hearings and through public comments. Thanks to your efforts, we submitted more than 3,000 letters to DEQ expressing our concerns with proposed revisions to the permit.  The new permit, which took effect on October 1, is currently being appealed by the NC Farm Bureau and others.    

A New Website For NC Farm Families

To strengthen our online presence and make our website easier to navigate, we launched an updated website in August to serve as the new face of NC Farm Families.  If you haven’t checked it out, visit www.ncfarmfamilies.com.

Looking to the Future

The upcoming year is certain to bring new challenges to our industry. The uncertainty around the nuisance lawsuits continues to hang over our head and new threats continue to emerge — including legal challenges aimed at North Carolina’s Right to Farm laws. We will continue to keep you informed about these important issues and will not hesitate to ask for your help when needed. We will need your continued help to protect our farmers and our rights.

The strength and resilience of our farm communities is so impressive.  We will continue to showcase our farmers and our positive impact on our communities through farm tours, online features and more. The North Carolina pork industry supports more than 50,000 jobs and contributes over $13 billion for the North Carolina economy — and attacks on farmers impact our families, our communities, and our economy.  Standing together to protect our farm families protects us all.

Thank you for your unwavering support and bold passion for our family farmers.

Happy New Year!

More False Tales About the Hog Industry: A Response to Food & Environment Reporting Network

The latest attack on North Carolina hog farmers arrived Friday — an article about the ongoing nuisance lawsuits that was full of false and misleading information produced by anti-agriculture activists and a freelance journalist named Barry Yeoman. 

It reads like a “greatest hits” album, filled with a familiar cast of characters repeating claims that have been debunked time and time again. The outfit behind the story — the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN) — Is that same group that published a wildly inaccurate and discredited story about livestock complaints in North Carolina earlier this year.

FERN is funded by the Schmidt Family Foundation, which has a goal of harming animal agriculture.The foundation recently provided $190,000 to FERN, in part, for “modern muckraking.” It has been funding an array of efforts that are aimed against modern agriculture, including directly paying for an ongoing effort to organize class-action lawyers to bring more lawsuits against, among others, Smithfield Foods.

It’s unclear why anyone thinks that destroying farms, driving up food prices and dismantling rural economies is a worthwhile endeavor.

If you read the article, it’s important to understand the context of what you are reading — that is, what you are reading is underwritten by a well-funded advocate who is against agriculture. It isn’t actual independent journalism, though it’s presented with that veneer.

One of the more laughable passages seems to suggest that state Rep. Jimmy Dixon, a farmer himself, is somehow compromised because the pork industry has accounted for about 12 percent of his campaign contributions.

This, in a story that is 100 percent paid for by an anti-agriculture advocacy group.

The tale is as one-sided as the trials were – recall that no juror, not one, ever visited any of the farms that were on trial. The Texas lawyers on the other side of the courtroom didn’t want that. They didn’t want the jurors to see and smell for themselves.

The story prominently features Elsie Herring, the most-quoted neighbor of a hog farm on the planet. She is given free rein to say that the farm she lives near “is blowing waste” on her. This is simply not happening, and no respectable media outlet should repeat these falsehoods.

The story also lends much credence to Steve Wing, who was both a UNC-Chapel Hill professor AND founder of the N.C. Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN), which is also funded by Schmidt and advocates against agriculture. 

Wing, now deceased, was described as a “committed activist” in his obituary… and has said to students that he literally “made arrangements” with advocacy groups in his “research” in order to “subvert the interests” of the university. That much is apparent in the various discredited studies by him.

The story seeks to frame this issue as one about racial division, which is one of the saddest and most despicable aspects of these cases and of the continued efforts by those who wish to close our farms. There remains a continued effort by these activists to divide people based on race. It should be rejected by all fair-minded people, especially when what they say is flatly false.

The irony of the story is that numerous media outlets who have spent time on our farms contradict it. True journalists describe the farms in terms that are vastly different than litigants in lawsuits. And so do neighbors, including in the trial Barry wrote about.

Just last week, a group of media members visited a farm in Sampson County. 

Shortly after the media arrived on the farm, a husband and wife – the farm’s closest neighbors – came walking back to say hello and offer their own testimony.

“We’ve enjoyed living out here,” the wife said. “The farm doesn’t bother us.”

What bothers us all is something else: inaccurate tales told by advocates who are disguising themselves as the media.

U.S. Court of Appeals to consider hog farm lawsuit in January

An appeal of the controversial nuisance lawsuits against Murphy-Brown will be considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in January 2020. That’s when the appeals court in Richmond will hear arguments from the pork producer about seven serious errors that resulted in an unfair and improper trial.

The appeals court will hear oral arguments from Murphy-Brown and the plaintiffs during its January 28-31 session as it considers requests to dismiss the case, reverse the punitive damages award, and/or order a new trial. Rulings are typically issued three to six months after oral arguments are heard.

This is not the first time the U.S. Court of Appeals has considered issues involving the nuisance lawsuits. In September 2018, a panel of three judges sharply criticized U.S. District Court Judge Earl Britt for imposing a gag order during the second trial.

The Fourth Circuit called the gag order “ill-advised” and “unconstitutionally vague,” noting “the mischief of the trial court’s action should be apparent.”

“This is wrong,” the court wrote in a 24-page opinion vacating the gag order.

“The gag order has already inflicted serious harm on parties, advocates, and potential witnesses alike,” the ruled stated. “It has muted political engagement on a contested issue of great public and private consequence. It has hamstrung the exercise of First Amendment rights. Even in short doses, these harms are hostile to the First Amendment.”

“The gag order harms farmers,” the court wrote in describing the harm caused by Judge Britt’s order. “This case is about their lives and their livelihoods. Whatever differences the parties and their supporters have, they possess in common a passionate First Amendment interest in debating their futures. It seems very wrong that a court would take that from them. “

We have anxiously waited for this to be scheduled, and now, we wait to see the opinion of the Court of Appeals. Their verdict will impact the lives of many family farmers. We will keep everyone up-to-date and apprised of further progressions.