Managerial Challenges of Hog Farms in North Carolina

Hog farming is a major sector of the North Carolina economy, with a current inventory of 9.5 million hogs or 15.2% of the United States total production. The location and distribution of these farms creates various managerial challenges that are coming under increasing public scrutiny. The shift to large scale concentrated feeding operations has changed the type and placement of environmental, social, and health impacts. Concerns regarding the equitable placement of these farms, water quality impacts, and health effects will be addressed in this presentation by using spatial analysis to extract demographic/managerial information from available data. Public drinking water surface supplies downstream from major hog farm sectors will be identified to help promote a monitoring program that takes potential health effects that are currently unmonitored into account.