SMITHFIELD AGREEMENT
In the summer and fall of 2000, the Attorney General of North Carolina entered into agreements first with Smithfield Foods and its subsidiaries and then with Premium Standard Farms under which the two companies consented to fund development of environmentally superior waste management technologies for use on North Carolina swine farms owned by the companies.

Smithfield Foods agreed to provide $15 million for this effort, while the attorney general allocated $2.1 million from the Premium Standard Farms agreement, for a total of $17.1 million for the environmentally superior technologies identification and development initiative. In March of 2002 the attorney general entered a third agreement with Frontline Farmers, an organization made up of independent swine farmers. While Frontline Farmers is not providing funding, the organization's membership did agree to work cooperatively with the attorney general and North Carolina State University to develop and implement environmentally superior technologies.

The various agreements call for a "designee" to oversee the selection and evaluation of technologies. C.M. (Mike) Williams, director of the Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center at North Carolina State University , was appointed designee by NC State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. I'd like to mention something here about Environmental Defense Foundation too. Your wordsmithing is way better than mine!

The agreements define an environmentally superior technology as "any technology, or combination of technologies that (1) is permittable by the appropriate governmental authority; (2) is determined to be technically, operationally and economically feasible for an identified category or categories of farms as described in the agreements and (3) meets the following performance standards:

    1. Eliminates the discharge of animal waste to surface waters and groundwater through direct discharge, seepage or runoff;

    2. Substantially eliminates atmospheric emissions of ammonia;

    3. Substantially eliminates the emission of odor that is detectable beyond the boundaries of the parcel or tract of land on which the swine farm is located;

    4. Substantially eliminates the release of disease-transmitting vectors and airborne pathogens; and

    5. Substantially eliminates nutrient and heavy metal contamination of soil and groundwater."

Selection of environmentally superior technology candidates to undergo performance verification and economic analysis involved a request for proposals that was issued nationwide to research institutions and industry. Technology selections were based on terms and conditions of the agreements and competitive review (outside ad hoc review) as well as review by an Advisory Panel appointed by the designee (per the Agreements) and comprised of individuals representing government, environmental and community interests, the companies (Smithfield, Premium Standard Farms and Frontline Farmers) and individuals with expertise in animal waste management, environmental science and public health, economics and business management. This process yielded 18 technology candidates. These technologies are now is various stages of construction or operation and performance verification. For a brief description of each technology, please go to http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/smithfield_projects/smithfieldsite.htm.

"CONFINED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS
CAFOs are giant livestock farms which can house thousands of animals in a single facility. As a result, they produce vast amounts of waste – often equivalent to a small city – that must be disposed of. While a problem of this nature – and scale – sounds almost humorous, pollution from livestock farms can seriously threaten humans, fish and ecosystems.

Here are some interesting facts about the risks:

Livestock pollution and public health

  • California officials identify agriculture, including cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted groundwater.
  • In Oklahoma , nitrates from Seaboard Farms' hog operations contaminated drinking water wells, prompting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue an emergency order in June 2001 requiring the company to provide safe drinking water to area residents.
  • Animal waste contains disease-causing pathogens, such as Salmonella , E. coli , Cryptosporidium , and fecal coliform, which can be 10 to 100 times more concentrated than in human waste. More than 40 diseases can be transferred to humans through manure.
  • In this country, roughly 24 million pounds of antibiotics -- about 70 percent of the nation's antibiotics use in total -- are added to animal feed every year to speed livestock growth. This widespread use of antibiotics on animals contributes to the rise of resistant bacteria, making it harder to treat human illnesses.

Livestock pollution and water pollution

  • Huge open-air waste lagoons, often as big as several football fields, are prone to leaks and spills. In 1995 an eight-acre hog-waste lagoon in North Carolina burst, spilling 25 million gallons of manure into the New River . The spill killed about 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing.
  • From 1995 to 1998, 1,000 spills or pollution incidents occurred at livestock feedlots in 10 states and 200 manure-related fish kills resulted in the death of 13 million fish.
  • When Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina in 1999, at least five manure lagoons burst and approximately 47 lagoons were completely flooded.

 

The escalating size of factory farms

  • During the past 15 years the number of hog farms in the United States dropped from 600,000 to 157,000, yet the number of hogs remains almost the same.
  • In 1999, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 2 percent of the hog farms in the country produce over 46 percent of the total number of hogs.
  • Ten large companies produce more than 90 percent of the nation's poultry.