North Carolina’s hog industry is disproportionately affecting the health and well-being of neighboring Black and Brown communities.

Up Close Pig Noses in Pig Pen — Dirty Pig Noses on Farm. U.S. Government Image. CC0

Oinking, rancid smells, bugs, feces and environmental racism — this is the day-to-day reality for people living near the Black Belt of North Carolina, where Black Americans face the consequences of an industry that is socially and environmentally exploitive. In the early 1990s, a white man purchased 300 acres of land with three lagoons in a predominantly Black, rural community in North Carolina. He had no intentions of living on it; this was land to farm 15,000 hogs. Soon after, he sold his land and the pigs to Smithfield Foods, responsible for the largest hog facilities at the time. This caused North Carolina to become one of the leading production sites in the commercial pork industry, a state where pigs now outnumber humans 35:1.

These farms are located all along the Black Belt of the United States, an area predominantly occupied by plantations and enslaved people in the early to mid-1800s. Because of the area's history of segregation and redlining, it is home to a community that experiences high levels of poverty, low education, unemployment and poor health care. Black neighborhoods are roughly four times closer to these hog facilities than white neighborhoods. The hog farming facilities are causing extreme harm to not only the land but also to the people surrounding the neighborhood, leading to environmental injustice.

North Carolina is home to more than 2,000 hog farms. This sheer amount of farms is creating numerous social and environmental problems, with feces being one of the root causes. The extensive number of pigs leaves billions of tons of pig waste to be dealt with. The industry has devised a few ways to “dispose” of the waste: either by dumping it into lagoons where the feces seeps into the groundwater that people drink or by burning the waste, producing methane gas that is used as spray fertilizer, leaving people to breathe air that is contaminated with feces. An associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health said, “One of the most disturbing stories that I’ve heard people talk about is the sensation of actually feeling the spray, the fecal waste, raining down on them.”

Contaminated Lagoon With Animal Waste — Contaminated Lagoon With Hog Waste. Waterkeeper Alliance Inc.'s. CC 2.0

The people of North Carolina face numerous health conditions as a result of these hog facilities. A study published in 2018 proved that Black and Brown people are disproportionately affected by higher infant mortality rates, higher death rates from anemia, kidney disease, tuberculosis, asthma, high blood pressure, high anxiety, and depression. In addition, the environment also faces constant harm from feces pollution. Continuous waste runoff into groundwater and neighboring water sources can lead to algae blooms that deplete oxygen levels and kill marine life.

The people of North Carolina have filed numerous lawsuits against the state and Smithfield Foods challenging these outdated practices. They hope to get advocacy and legal support that will require the facilities to use clean technology to dissolve the waste. Still, their voices are constantly silenced by the money these big corporations use to combat them.

In 2022, the NAACP filed a civil rights complaint. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that the hog facilities were responsible for 178 premature deaths yearly, and still nothing significant has changed. The EPA and the state government lack resources, enforcement and commitment to upholding the regulations that have been put in place to help protect the people. Reports are years overdue, legislation is constantly being ignored and overlooked, exposing a lack of urgency and care for the well-being of neighboring communities. Pigs are money, and money is proving to be more important than people in this case of environmental racism.

TO GET INVOLVED

Educate yourself and others. This is happening right under our noses — policies are not being followed, and people are dying because of it. Check out The Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, which shows how hog facilities are disproportionately distributed and pollute water sources and the air. EarthJustice is a nonprofit that helps prevent future hog-waste floods and creates protective infrastructure for hurricanes. The Southern Environmental Law Center aims to protect individuals from pollution caused by industrial animal operations.