Publications Available Through Hog Watch

 

DOLLARS AND SENSE: An Economic Analysis of Alternative Hog Waste Management Technologies (11/00)
This report shows that pork producers can afford to replace outdated lagoons with new systems for managing harmful hog waste that would better protect the environment and public health. 

 

Hog Lagoons: Pitting Pork Waste Against Public Health and Environment (6/99)
North Carolina has more than 2,600 registered hog operations using at least one, and often more, open-air pits to process the waste from the state's 10 million hogs. Environmental Defense highlights the severe threats to public health and the environment associated with these lagoons.

 

Save Our State Report. Report from a meeting of legislators, policy makers, industry representatives, environmentalists, and scientists. Includes summaries of the participants' presentations on the relationship between hog waste and human health, the environment, economics, technology, and public policy. A Report on the Save Our State Forum, June 11, 1998. Raleigh, NC. [Proceedings from forum entitled "Hog Waste and Environmental Quality in North Carolina: Defining the problems, finding the solutions"].

 

Environmental Defense's Recommendations for a Plan to Phase Out the Use of Anaerobic Lagoons and Sprayfields (5/98)
A detailed proposal for a realistic, effective, and lasting alternative to the use of anaerobic lagoons and sprayfields to dispose of hog waste. The proposal calls for the use of performance-based criteria for swine waste systems that are designed to achieve specific environmental and public health goals. Environmental Defense. Recommendations for a Plan to Phase Out the Use of Anaerobic Lagoons and Sprayfields.

 

 

Resources Available Elsewhere on the Internet

 

America's Animal Factories

An in-depth, state-by-state summary of the impacts of waste from intensive animal operations. Clean Water Network and Natural Resources Defense Council.

 

Animal Waste Management and the Environment: Background for Current Issues
Congressional Research Service report on waste from animal agricultural operations.  Summarizes various state and federal policies.

 

Animal Waste Pollution in America: An Emerging National Problem (12/97)
Report produced by Senate staff for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Ia.) on potential regulatory solutions to the problems created by large volumes of animal waste. United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry.

 

"Boss Hog: North Carolina's Pork Revolution" (2/19-26/95)

The Raleigh News & Observer's Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles on North Carolina's hog industry.

 

Congressional Testimony About Animal Factories from EPA Officials (5/13/98)
Testimony regarding animal operations and clean water made by several leading EPA officials before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry and the Subcommittee on Forestry, Resource Conservation, and Research of the Committee on Agriculture.

 

Evidence of swine influenza in farm residents and employees
CDC report on Serologic Evidence of H1 Swine Influenza Virus Infection in Swine Farm Residents and Employees.

 

Human Alteration of the Global Nitrogen Cycle: Causes and Consequences (8/97)
Summary of scientific research on issues related to nitrogen pollution. Ecological Society of America.

 

Large Scale, Corporate Hog Operations: Why Rural Communities Are Concerned and What They Should Do (10/98)
Article by agricultural economist John Ikerd. University of Missouri, Columbia.

 

Law and Policy for Feedlots: A Report on the ABA Special Committee on Agricultural Management Roundtable on Environmental Issues in Animal Feedlots (Spring 1998)
Summary of discussion and findings made at an American Bar Association-sponsored conference on animal operations, including information on regulatory and compliance issues, common legal actions, and potential technical solutions to current problems. Council for Agricultural Science & Technology.

 

Managing Odors from Swine Waste (4/96)
Engineering information by Richard E. Nicolai for farmers on how to best manage odors from hog waste. University of Minnesota Extension Program.

 

Manure Management in Harmony with the Environment and Society (2/98)
Proceedings and summaries of presentations from a major conference on animal waste management.

 

Nonpoint Pollution of Surface Waters with Phosphorous and Nitrogen (Summer 1998)
Summary of scientific research on causes and effects of nutrient pollution from nonpoint sources, such as agricultural run-off. Ecological Society of America.

 

North Carolina Agricultural Chemicals Manual (2002)
Information on chemicals and fertilizers (including manure) used in agriculture. Center for Integrated Pest Management. 

 

Nutrients Available from Livestock Manure Relative to Crop Growth Requirements
Scientific study on the potential for using crops to absorb nitrogen and phosphorous produced by factory farms. Includes color maps. USDA.

 

Options for Managing Odor: A Report from the Swine Odor Taskforce (3/95)
Summary of government-funded university research into odor issues. North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, North Carolina State University.

 

Pollution Potential of Livestock Manure (Winter 1995)
Engineering Notes article by John Chastain on pollution strength of livestock manure. University of Minnesota, Department of Agricultural Engineering.

 

Pork Facts 2001/2002 (pdf file)
Pork industry publication which includes sections on pork production, marketing, and industry structure. National Pork Board. (Earlier editions available at their web site.

Pork Powerhouses 1998

Successful Farming article on major pork producers. Includes chart of 50 largest producers. Previous years' articles also available at the Successful Farming web site.

 

Rural Health and Large-Scale Swine Operations (12/98)

Article by Kendall Thu.

 

'Sold Down the River' News Series (3/96)

Series of news articles by Raleigh's News & Observer staff on the causes and effects of pollution in North Carolina's Neuse River.

 

The Ray Kroc of Pigsties. (10/97)

Forbes article on Wendell Murphy, CEO of Murphy Family Farms.

 

This Little Piggy Went to Market: Will the New Pork Industry Call the Heartland Home? (pdf file)

Mark Drabenstott article on geographic and structural changes in the pork industry during the 1990s. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Review, 1998Q3, Vol. 83.

 

Water Quality and the North Carolina Swine Industry (3/95)

Summary of how hog farming can affect water quality. North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, North Carolina State University.

 

What's That Smell in the Air? (1997)

Summary paper on hog issues prepared by professor Melva Okun of the UNC-CH School of Public Health's Environmental Resource Program.