Environmental, Social, and Economic Impacts of the North Carolina Hog Industry (2013)
Undergraduate: Jamie Berger
Faculty Advisor: James Ferguson
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies
Like barbeque, the hog industry itself has been an integral part of North Carolina¿s past and will continue to play a vital role in its future. The industry saw explosive growth in the 1990s, when industrial methods were first applied to the process of raising hogs in North Carolina. Although this growth resulted in a boost to the state¿s economy, it was also paralleled by a number of environmental and social challenges that continue to affect the state and its residents today.
This report seeks to illuminate these economic, environmental, and social impacts of the North Carolina hog industry, and to describe how it has affected North Carolina¿s natural resources¿especially its water, soil, and air¿and communities, immigrant and non-immigrant workers, and animals.