2000 Frederick County officials today approved the first ordinance in Maryland requiring large-scale hog farmers to pass county inspection and notify the surrounding neighborhoods before starting a farm. The ordinance, which applies to all farms with more than 1,000 hogs, came after two huge, corporate hog farms opened in the county since 1996. Neighbors had complained about the smell coming from giant manure pits beneath the hog barns, and have complained of respiratory problems from the fumes. State farming groups have criticized the ordinance, two years in the making, saying it will put the county's hog farmers out of business.
Similar laws are in the books in many states, including North Carolina, Iowa and Illinois.
A bill in the Maryland General Assembly that would have declared a five-year moratorium on new hog farms died in committee last year. The last thing we want to see is more farmers go out of business.