Posted on behalf of Prof. Barry Yeoman.

Four years ago, the world’s largest pork processor settled a lawsuit with more than 500 North Carolinians. The plaintiffs, who live near industrial hog farms, said the stench and flies had made their lives unbearable.

Today, the pork industry calls itself “a good steward of the environment” because it captures methane from hog waste and converts it to biogas.

Has the industry gone green? Has life improved on North Carolina’s coastal plain? To find out, I visited hog country four times. I sat in churches, living rooms, and shotgun in a Cessna Skylane. Here’s the article I wrote for Sierra magazine and the Food & Environment Reporting Network:

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2024-2-summer/feature/cafo-hog-industry-great-biogas-boondoggle

The article also features photos by J. Henry Fair, who is best known for his aerial photos of what he calls industrial scars.