Hog producers work hard at protecting environment
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on August 21, 2016 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Allen Sutton and John Froehlich check one of the hog houses at the James Sutton Farm. Maintaining healthy conditions for the livestock is essential to a successful business.
The recent release of online maps that pinpoint the location of every hog and poultry farm in North Carolina fails to paint an accurate picture of the hog industry, farmers and industry leaders say.
"It's nothing new for our industry," said Bob Ivey, president of Maxwell Foods, a subsidiary of Goldsboro Milling Co. "We don't see this as a big deal to us because we've been heavily regulated, and we've had to report on where the farms are located."
North Carolina has documented the locations of hog farms since permitting requirements were established in 1993, and the locations have been available on the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality website for five years, said Michele Walker, DEQ spokesperson.
The hog industry -- North Carolina's second-highest income producing agricultural industry -- has had to walk a fine line between profitability and protection of the environment.
The far-reaching economic impact of the industry and its efforts to meet multiple state regulations weren't mentioned in the announced launch of the online maps, said Deborah Johnson, chief executive officer of the N.C. Pork Council.
"Obviously, they had their own initiative and reasons for putting that information out there," Johnson said. "It really just disregarded the fact that the hog farms undergo a rigorous permitting process. They are inspected by state officials every year.
"It's really trying to sensationalize it, like this is new information."
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
The maps, which took three years to create, were released by the Environmental Working Group and Waterkeeper Alliance. The maps show the locations of more than 6,500 concentrated animal feeding operations, including cattle, poultry and swine, across the state.
The online mapping project is the first effort to offer the combined locations of all farms, along with aerial maps and the locations of lagoons and their proximity to area water resources, according to EWG.
The documentation offers new information involving the locations of more than 3,900 poultry farms, which are currently not recorded by the state.
Poultry farms that use liquid waste treatment facilities are required to have site-specific permits, but farms that utilize dry waste treatment methods are not, said Christine Lawson, DEQ program manager for animal feeding operations.
Currently, 10 poultry farms statewide are permitted by the state, Lawson said. State officials have tasked DEQ staff with studying the environmental impacts of the remaining poultry farms that are not required to seek state permits, Walker said.
"We are looking at this right now," Walker said. "We are looking at them to determine their impacts."
STATE OVERSIGHT
North Carolina's hog industry -- listed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the second largest in the nation -- is tightly regulated and continues to be studied as new technology or other information becomes available.
"North Carolina has one of the most robust regulatory programs in the country," Lawson said. "When it comes down to the hog industry, we have more inspectors in our state than any other state."
State regulations, which started in 1992, have continued to increase during the past 20 years. Site-specific permits became a requirement in 1993 along with other regulatory practices.
Fines were established for improper waste discharge, annual inspections became law, and setback and buffer rules were put in place. Waste treatment operators are required to receive training, certification and continuing education.
By 1997, a moratorium was established that prohibited the expansion or new construction of hog farming operations. The moratorium became permanent in 2007. Since that time, no new farms have been added in North Carolina, Lawson said. Today, there are approximately 2,100 hog farms throughout the state. At one time, there were 2,400 hog farming operations.
"To date, we have had no new hog farms," Lawson said. "The number has gone down because we continue to have facilities that have gone into closure."
In addition to annual inspections, every permitted farm is required to undergo a permitting renewal process once every five years, Lawson said. Renewals require farming operations to update their practices to current state standards.
"Compliance has improved through time," Lawson said. "We work to ensure all the environmental regulations are met. Improvements in management of livestock and waste is updated as research continues."
Johnson said farmers across the state have worked hard to be good stewards of the environment while continuing to operate profitable businesses.
The hog industry has an overall $11 billion impact in North Carolina each year, Johnson said. Many farms are located in rural communities where they are able to offer jobs and stimulate local economies, Johnson said.
"There's been a lot of things that have happened over the years," she said. "There's been a lot of different rules, and we've learned a lot. If you look at the regulations, they have increased over a period of time.
"Protecting our environment is important to our farmers, and they are working hard to follow the rules and be good neighbors."
Some farmers are utilizing new technologies for waste treatment, in an effort to decrease environmental impacts.
MAXWELL FOODS
Maxwell Foods, at its 150 contracted hog operations primarily in Wayne and other eastern counties, utilizes newer practices that involve animal feed additives that result in reduced environmental impacts, Ivey said.
"The industry has really come a long way in the last decade in terms of improving the environment," Ivey said. "There's a lot of new technology that's used."
The use of phytase in animal feed, at farms contracted by Maxwell Foods, reduces the level of phosphorus in animal waste that ends up in the environment.
The company also adds amino acids into the feed, which serve to reduce the level of nitrogen that ends up in the environment, Ivey said.
Both phosphorus and nitrogen are closely watched by state regulators due to their potential impact on soil and water supplies, he said.
"There's a lot of things we do now that we didn't do that improve the environment," Ivey said.
The company has also had a significant impact on the communities where the farming operations are located, he said.
"We have a big, positive economic impact on eastern North Carolina," Ivey said. "Anything we see that could be a benefit to the environment, we keep up with it."
State records, which date back to at least 2004, show that Ivey's Spring Creek Farm, Maxwell Foods and Goldsboro Milling Co. have a clean state compliance record. None of the facilities have been issued a notice of violation, assessed civil penalty or cited for any discharge of wastewater, according to a letter sent to the company by Lawson in December 2015.
"Our company has a perfect compliance record," Ivey said.
The Waterkeeper Alliance plans to keep state and federal agencies accountable for enforcing laws designed to protect the environment and the public.
"For far too long, North Carolinians have been kept in the dark about the true impact these industrial factory farms are having on communities and waterways," said Marc Yaggi, executive director of the Waterkeeper Alliance, following the release of the online maps.
"Information is power and now that these sites are definitively identified, we will hold accountable the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for enforcing the Clean Water Act and fixing these massive pollution problems."
State officials say North Carolina's high standards of regulation are leading to positive results.
"Agriculture is an enormous industry in North Carolina," Walker said. "It brings in billions and billions of dollars. It's certainly our goal and hope that we're having an impact on the industry and the environment.
"Generally speaking, the permitted swine facilities in North Carolina have a record of a high rate of compliance. I would say the regulatory program has been effective in increasing environmental compliance."