North Carolina is home to 8.8 million hogs, most of them in large barns in the eastern part of the state that draw complaints about noxious odors and the huge volume of manure generated by the hogs. Researchers at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), created in 1994, are running an experiment in raising hogs “without antibiotics in a way that grants them enough space to roam — and that keeps their waste out of open-air lagoons,” says the North Carolina Health News.
On large hog farms, urine and feces are stored in the manure lagoons and then sprayed on nearby fields as fertilizer. Located in Goldsboro, the CEFS “is looking to show that there’s another way to produce good pork and fill the growing demand for smaller-scale meat production,” says Health News.
A significant amount of human labor is needed for the alternative production methods. The straw used as bedding for hogs needs to be changed regularly. The time and labor needed for animal care raises the cost of production. “But competing by price with conventional farms isn’t the point,” says Health News. It cites Andy Meier, superintendent of the center’s Goldsboro farm as saying the project demonstrates a viable model for smaller farms. Meier argued against a polarized view of hog farming, telling Health News, “It’s not ‘us or them.’ I think it’s ‘all or us.'”