North Carolina
Livestock industry halfway to victory on N.C. nuisance bill
The North Carolina state House voted, 74-40, to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a bill limiting the liability of large livestock farms when they are sued for noxious odors or runoff, said the Port City Daily. "Only time will tell how this legislation plays out...the bill must still pass in (the) Senate before it becomes law."
Pork farmers urge veto override of bill limiting their liability
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would limit the liability of large livestock farms when they are sued for creating a public nuisance due to odors or manure runoff. His veto may not be the end of the story because hog farmers are encouraging the legislature to override the veto.
North Carolina House votes to limit farm liability for animal odors
Decades ago, hog farmers described the pungent aroma of hog manure as the smell of money. Now, the North Carolina state House has passed a bill that could save them money if they are sued for creating a nuisance due to the smell of animal waste, says the Associated Press.
New paths for drug-resistant bacteria in North Carolina hog farms
The children of people who work in industrial hog farms in North Carolina, the second-largest hog-producing state in the country, are much more likely to be carrying drug-resistant bacteria than children whose households have no swine-farm contact, according to a new study.
Poultry farms top hogs and cattle in North Carolina in animal waste
North Carolina is second to Georgia as the largest poultry-producing state in the nation and a new report by state environmental officials says the poultry industry produces more animal waste than they expected, says public broadcaster WFDD-FM in Winston-Salem. Not only is it more than officials expected, the nitrogen and phosphorus runoff tops hogs or cattle. In one river basin, the Yadkin-Pee Dee, it was six times more.
Aide to North Carolina senator becomes White House agriculture adviser
Ray Starling, who grew up on a farm in North Carolina and worked as chief of staff for Sen. Thom Tillis, will serve as White House adviser on agriculture, trade and food assistance, said the National Economic Council. The National Pork Producers Council, a farm group, called the appointment "a clear signal of (President Trump's) commitment to reverse unnecessary regulations inhibiting pork producers and all U.S. farmers."
In a big pig state, an experiment to control hog manure
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.
Pig CAFOs influence timing of human flu seasons, study shows
The enormous numbers of animals concentrated in industrial pig farms are changing the pattern of flu seasons, by providing flu viruses a place to jump between humans and animals and multiply faster than they otherwise would, according to new research from North Carolina — a state that is second only to Iowa in pig production.
North Carolina pork industry: ‘Much less damage’ than in previous storms
In the floods caused by Hurricane Matthew, manure lagoons on North Carolina hog farms "withstood the storm remarkably well," said the North Carolina Pork Council. Fourteen lagoons were flooded and only one lagoon was partially breached — on a farm that has not housed hogs "for more than five years, significantly minimizing the environmental impact."
Tens of thousands of livestock drowned in North Carolina floods
Floods spawned by Hurricane Matthew killed "at least tens of thousands of chickens, hogs and other livestock" in eastern North Carolina, said the Washington Post. Some environmentalists said the losses could reach the millions because of the large livestock production in the flooded area; North Carolina is one of the largest hog and broiler-chicken producers in the nation.
Green groups call flooded North Carolina barns an ‘unnecessary risk’
Hurricane Matthew flooded 142 hog and poultry barns in eight counties in North Carolina, said two environmental groups, vivid proof of the "unnecessary risk" of building large livestock farms "in a low-lying area deluged annually by tropical storms."
Flood count in North Carolina: 98 poultry barns, 15 hog lagoons
An environmental group, Waterkeeper Alliance, says floods from Hurricane Matthew swamped 98 barns on 27 poultry farms and 15 manure lagoons on nine hog farms in North Carolina based on reconnaissance flights over storm-hit territory. State environmental officials say their aerial observations determined one hog farm had two partial breaches, the most serious type of damage for release of animal waste from a manure lagoon.
How many CAFOs are in the U.S? It’s anyone’s guess.
Due to privacy laws that have stymied regulators, no one can say for sure how many CAFOs are in the U.S., much less how large the animal operations really are, says Inside Climate News. “Thousands of industrial farms across the country release contaminants into the nation's water and airways, but in many states like North Carolina, the public has limited access to information about them."
Aerial survey says hog farms may escape catastrophic damage in North Carolina flooding
Inspectors found flooding of some manure lagoons in eastern North Carolina, but their aerial inspection "did not show any confirmed breaches or overtopping," says the state Department of Environmental Quality. Environmental groups say the floods, a result of Hurricane Matthew, are a severe test of whether large-scale livestock farms, producing millions of hogs and broiler chickens a year, can keep animal waste from mixing with storm water.
Rural job growth is less than half of urban. Do elections play a part?
Cities are creating jobs faster than rural areas with a 13.3 percent growth rate in the past year, compared to 4.8 percent in rural counties, says a Daily Yonder analysis of Labor Department statistics. "Unemployment remains a bigger problem in rural counties than metro areas," says the Yonder, which tried to gauge local conditions in battleground states.
In North Carolina, hog manure is a civil rights issue
A nonprofit law firm and the Center for Civil Rights is using federal civil rights laws in a challenge to the pork industry in North Carolina, says Civil Eats. "This crisis involves the lasting impact of pollution from large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) housing pigs," writes Steve Holt.
North Carolina legislature enacts “ag gag” law over veto
The North Carolina Legislature decisively overrode a gubernatorial veto to enact "a bill aimed at discouraging undercover investigations of farm and workplace conditions," reports the Charlotte Observer.
Armyworm resistant to GE corn is found in Southeast
Researchers confirmed that fall armyworms in North Carolina are resistant to a variety of corn genetically engineered to produce a protein toxic to the insects. It is the first documented occurrence of insect resistance to so-called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn in 18 years of use, said Entomology Today.
Hurricane slashes Georgia cotton crop by 20 percent
High winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Helene destroyed one-fifth of the cotton crop in Georgia, the second-largest cotton state in the nation, said the USDA's monthly Crop Production report. The USDA estimated that growers would harvest 1.65 million bales of cotton weighing 480 pounds each, down by 400,000 bales from a pre-hurricane estimate.