It also has profited from a network of formal and informal alliances with powerful people in government. Now, a growing chorus of residents, local leaders and environmental groups is pressing the state to address worries about hog farming. Most are complaining about odor. And an increasing number want to know about pollution problems and long-term economic development issues in Eastern North Carolina. The first package of stories shows how hog farms are polluting groundwater, how serious the environmental effects might be, and how environmental regulators worry that they lack the information and the authority they need to protect the public.
Subsequent stories look at corporate farming, politics, hog odor and campaign finance.
Hog waste is polluting the groundwater. New evidence shows that hog farm wastewater lagoons are leaking. But environmental regulators don't have the information or the authority they need to protect drinking water. Corporate farming has taken over the swine industry the way chain stores took over retailing, and contract farms are the new franchises. North Carolina farmers are borrowing heavily to raise pigs for corporations.