Hog Farming in North Carolina
Introduction
Hog farming is an industry that involves the production and distribution of hogs. Hog farmers rear hogs in favorable environments until the hogs reach a certain age and may be butchered for meat. After butchering, the meat is then processed and distributed among consumers. Although hog farming is an industry in itself, it is part of a larger industry: pork production. Pork production begins during research and development. In this stage, people in the industry including hog farmers conduct research about breeding and rearing, nutritional programs, and even genetics. The succeeding stages include hog farming itself, which involves the care and growth of hogs, followed by meat processing, meat packaging, and distribution until the product reaches consumers. The success of the industry largely depends on the quality of processed and packaged meat distributed among consumers.
For this reason, people in the industry focus on hog farming since the quality of meat products is dependent on how hogs were raised by farmers. In North Carolina, several firms are involved in hog farming. In fact, hog farming has contributed to one of the largest sources of revenues in North Carolina reaching $1 billion annually. The succeeding discussion focuses on hog farming in North Carolina in relation to environmental history, environmental issues such as global warming and climate change, and the concepts or ideas discussed in the class. Hog Farming and Environmental HistoryTheodore Roosevelt’s plan to stimulate economic growth by tapping into natural resource led to the construction of the Hoover Dam to generate electric power from nature (Clarke 2014). Roosevelt’s projects sought to contribute to environmental issues by using natural resources to produce energy. Nonetheless, the widespread production of energy also signaled industrialization in the United States, and consequently, the adoption of practices made easy and convenient by energy consumption. Hog farming, for instance, was already part of agricultural practices in the US but with rapid industrialization, it grew as an industry. Consequently, the number of hogs being raised in farms continued to increase not only to meet the demand of consumers but also to expand in the industry.
Over the years, the hog farming industry, particularly that in North Carolina, produces millions of hogs annually to fuel pork production. Nonetheless, rapid and widespread production in the hog farming industry raises various environmental issues pertaining to its contribution to environmental degradation such as pollution of land and water sources and global warming, as well as to risks that threaten the health and wellbeing of consumers and citizens in the US. Many people in local communities near hog farms complain about the smell of waste released by hog farms that may affect their health, particularly the health of their children. Social movements during the 1950s and 1960s sought to bring about change in various aspects of life including wage and employment, gender equality, and even ecology with the increasing awareness of and support for environmental issues and concerns (Clarke 2014). It follows …
