Environmental impact of pig farming
[1] Waste from pig farms can carry pathogens, bacteria (often antibiotic resistant), and heavy metals that can be toxic when ingested.
The contents in the spray and waste drift have been shown to cause mucosal irritation,[2] respiratory ailment,[3] increased stress,[4] decreased quality of life,[5] and higher blood pressure.
[9] Unlike human sewage, which is always treated with chemical and mechanical filtration, the waste from these lagoons is untreated when it is released back to the environment.
It is true that historically hog feces have been used as fertilizer and can be done safely and without runoff, but the magnitude was described by Dan Whittle, a former senior policy associate at the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as a "mass imbalance", with far too great a magnitude of fecal matter being sprayed for the crops being generated to not have significant spill off into neighboring plots of land.
Charlotte Savage, a resident who lives on a property separated from the Smithfield farm by an 80-foot path of forest, reported seeing her husband Julian faint at one point due to the smell, and that their house was also once surrounded by a three foot deep puddle of fecal matter.
[19] One case study, conducted by Environmental Health Perspectives, sought to prove that malodor and pollutant concentrations from swine operations are associated with stress, altered mood, and increased blood pressure.
[21] Many of these diseases are preventable given proper safety precautions such as washing hands and clothes, wearing face masks, and covering any open wounds when coming into contact with pigs.
[25] In Hong Kong, a study was done on farmers to identify key barriers and challenges associated with pig farming in that area.
Safety factors, quality of meat and impacts on the environment are all reasons for the decrease of pig farming production throughout France.
In 2019, a Dutch court halted the expansion of pig and other farms to prevent nitrogen pollution, which had led to algal blooms, smog, and soil acidification.
[29] The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls intensive farms above a certain threshold concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
[30] After the passage of Murphy's Laws and other similar bills, there was a rapid increase in industry in North Carolina, where the population of swine was estimated around 9-10 million.
[32] Regulation and laws could not keep up with the rapid explosion of the hog farming and spread of CAFOs in the early 2000s, which has caused severe harm and health impacts over time.
[37] Further, locally developed policies often have inefficient resources and abilities to enforce regulation, and often don't address transboundary issues that arise with pig operations that exist across multiple states.
[39]Social justice concerns regarding agricultural lands in rural areas have been rising because of the way minority communities are disproportionally affected by hazards and health risks associated with pig farming.
Due to the immense amount of waste produced by pigs, often foul odors and airborne molecules disturb local citizens.
[40] Due to the many environmental repercussions associated with common pig farming techniques, new technologies were created and tested to help prevent these problems.
Manure from swine contains excess nitrogen and phosphorus which gets released into nearby water bodies, polluting streams and rivers and contributing to eutrophication.
Applying this method can greatly reduce organic matters that come from manure which end up in near-by waterways causing pollution and eutrophication.
