 From Hugh Morton's NC, UNC Press, ©2003 |
Pigs and Hogs Poultry Cattle |
Pork barbecue can be found all across the state, and much bickering occurs as to which is better, eastern barbecue or western (Lexington) barbecue. Barbecue has long been an important part of the diet of North Carolinians because hogs were grown on just about every farm, primarily because they were relatively easy to raise. North Carolinians are proud of their barbecue and constantly boast that it is better than that of any other state’s. Yet sometimes it seems that those boasters of North Carolina barbecue forget where the meat comes from as they heap criticism upon the hog farmers and the bad odors and water pollution associated with hog farms.
A major reason for the popularity of pork barbeque in North Carolina is that it provides an additional way to prepare the meat of the numerous hogs that are grown in the state. In addition to relatively bland pork chops, sausage, and hams, pork barbeque added a bit of spice to pork meat and it soon became a staple in the diet of many Carolinians. The original pork barbecue of North Carolina has a long history along the coastal regions, but over time differences evolved in the preparation of the meat and the sauce. This led to the controversy over which is better, Eastern or Western (Lexington) barbecue.
Most eastern-style barbecue is made from whole hogs that are roasted and chopped when done. While the meat is cooking, and after it is cooked, it is seasoned with a barbecue sauce made from vinegar, salt, and pepper (black, red, and cayenne), and water. Variations of this base occur, predicated upon what other spices may be added. It definitely does not include tomatoes, sugar, or any other sweetener. Eastern barbecue tends to be drier than the Lexington style, partly because of the use of the tenderloin and hams of the whole hogs.
Western-style barbecue is made primarily from pork shoulders, making the barbecue more moist and juicy (with fat). Few Piedmont cooks use the whole hog in their barbecue. Western barbecue is served chopped, in chunks, or slices, in contrast to almost universal chopped barbecue in the east.
A crucial difference in eastern and western barbecue is the sauce. In the west, tomato ketchup is added to the vinegar, salt, and pepper base and it is also embellished with brown sugar to help neutralize the bite of the vinegar. Neither eastern or western North Carolina barbecue uses the thick, sweet, tomato based sauce common in the Midwest and Southwest.
Large factory farms, producing thousands of hogs every year, cause problems in the environment that must be addressed. Odor emanating from the farms is just one issue, and it is not even the major one. The most significant problem is water pollution caused by leakage from hog waste “lagoons.” The water pollution problem has been exacerbated by the well-above average rainfall during 2003. Many of the hog producing areas are reporting as much as 16 inches above average rainfall, and this is causing lagoons to fill to capacity and, in some cases, actually overflow.
Two counties, Duplin and Sampson, combined produced approximately 40 percent of the hogs in North Carolina, their farmers turning out four million of the 9.8 million hogs grown in the state in 2001. Although a moratorium on new hog “factory farms” is in place, the southern Coastal Plain counties saw production expand by about 400,000 from 2000 to 2001. In the central Coastal Plain, growth was less robust, amounting to about 96,000 hogs. The numbers declined slightly in the Piedmont and Mountain regions. Since 1995, the number of hogs and pigs in North Carolina has increased from 8.2 million to 9.8 million in 2001. The south Coastal Plain region remains the leading producing region in the state, turning out two of every three hogs grown in the state. (Figure 8)
The rapid expansion of the hog industry in eastern North Carolina brought benefits to the region. The large hog-processing plants built near the major farms employed thousands of people and the income generated by hog production and processing boosted the average per-capita income of the region’s workers. The trickle-down of this income was felt in many economic areas, including home construction and the services sector.
However, air and water pollution from the farms also threatened the economic livelihood of some areas, mainly those associated with tourism. Concerns over this led the 1997 North Carolina General Assembly to establish moratoria on the construction or expansion of certain swine farms and on lagoons and animal waste management systems for certain swine farms. The 1999 General Assembly and 2001 General Assembly both approved an extension of the moratoria.
One of the original purposes of the moratoria was to allow time for completion of scientific studies related to hog farms and animal waste management systems. Under the guidelines now in effect, the Environmental Management Commission shall not issue a permit for an animal waste management system for a new swine farm or the expansion of an existing swine farm until 1 September 2007.
Section 1.2 of S.L. 1997-458, as amended by Section of S.L. 1998-188, Section 2.2 of S.L. 1999-329, and Section 2 of S.L. 2001-254, reads that : “There is hereby established a moratorium for any new or expanding swine farm or lagoon Box for which a permit is required under Parts 1 or 1A of Article 21 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes in any county in the state: (i) that has a population of less than 75,000 according to the most recent decennial federal census; (ii) in which there is more than one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) of expenditures for travel and tourism based on the most recent figures of the Department of Commerce; and (iii) that is not in the coastal area as defined by G.S. 113A-103. Effective 1 January 1997 until 1 September 2007.”
Some in the hog industry complain that the moratoria cause unnecessary problems for hog producers and that the people who hold permits to grow hogs are restricted in some important areas. For example, if a farmer wants to move his farm from a site that has problems to one that is better suited for hog production, he or she cannot do so. It also restricts the ability of farmers to quit hog farming and transfer their animals to another farm or farmer.
North Carolina is the fourth leading state in the production of chickens, particularly broilers. Wilkes and Union counties together produced about 165 million of the state’s 712 million broilers (about 23 percent of the state total). Almost half of the chickens/broilers are grown in the central and southern Piedmont, adjacent and west of the major hog producing region of the southern Coastal Plain. A secondary concentration is in the north and central Coastal Plains (Figure 9 and Table 2).
In 2001, about 43 million turkeys were produced in North Carolina, making the state the second largest producer in the country. The dominant producing region is in the southern Coastal Plain, including the counties of Duplin and Sampson, which combined to produce about half of the state’s turkeys (Table 3).
As with the hog industry, the poultry industry has been tackling concerns about pollution. Major research efforts at North Carolina State University and elsewhere are underway to address the problems.
Between 1995 and 2001, the number of cattle in the state declined by about a quarter of a million head. The central and northern Piedmont region continued to be the leading producing region, along with several Mountain counties. In contrast, the Coastal Plain continues to lag behind in total head count, accounting for fewer than 175,000 head of the state’s 950,000 total (18 percent) in 2001(Figure 10).
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