But these big facilities also produce big controversy, and many states are targeting these super farms with new and costly environmental regulations. The debate is over pollution. Accidental spills in North Carolina and other states have killed rivers and left people nauseous from the smell. The issue is manure. Never before have so many pigs been contained in such small areas.
Most hog farms flush their waste into lined but open air lagoons.
And lagoons stink. We have very few neighbors. We've tried to situate these facilities in positions so that odors aren't a problem for our neighbors. And we've tried to design the lagoons and facilities so that we'd minimize what odors do come off of this operation. But third generation rancher and neighbor Sue Jarrett says on some days the smell is anything but minimal.