 The Impact of Agriculture and Agribusiness in NC Agriculture and agribusiness - food, fiber, and forestry - account for almost one-fifth of the state's income and employees. Almost 18 percent, or $70.1 billion, of the $399 billion gross state product is contributed by food, fiber, and forestry industries. These industries account for 700,000 of the state's 4 million employees.
See more updated statistics on NC agriculture by visiting this link on NCSU's website. |
 Most Stringent Hog Farm Standards in U.S. Found in North Carolina In January of 2009, The Institute of Agriculture & Natural Resources in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska released a paper outlining the variations of environmental regulation stringency among the top ten U.S. hog producing states.
North Carolina was found to have the most stringent regulations along with Illinois.
To see the complete paper, please visit the following link: http://www.agecon.unl.edu/Cornhuskereconomics/2009cornhusker/1-28-09.pdf
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Didn't get a chance to voice your opinion at the public hearings on the EMC proposed monitoring rule?
There's still an opportunity to weigh in on the issue.
We encourage NCPC members to participate in the public comment period. Written comments can be submitted until July 15, 2009, to the following:
Keith Larick
Animal Feeding Operations Unit
Division of Water Quality
1636 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1636
keith.larick@ncdenr.gov
(919) 715-0588 - Fax
Background:
In 2007, the Waterkeepers Alliance petitioned the NC Environmental Management Commission seeking the development of rules to assess alleged water quality impacts from animal feeding operations.
In 2008, the EMC approved the petitions and directed the Division of Water Quality, with input from various stakeholder groups, to develop rules to establish and implement a surface water monitoring program addressing the petitioners concerns.
The proposed rules define the process for establishing sampling locations at EACH subject animal operation. Specifically, the proposed rule would require farmers to collect up to three samples per year from three different sites. The samples are intended to determine the level of animal waste discharged into drains, ditches, and streams. Farmers would need to contract with outside commercial laboratories and it would cost livestock farmers about $2,200 annually to comply.
NCPC provided both written and oral comments on the petition and proposed rule and has been involved in the process since the stakeholder meetings began last year.
Our message has been the same throughout the process. First and foremost, NCPC is concerned over the lack of scientific basis for these proposed rules. Further, implementation of these proposed rules would be extremely costly for producers and would place an additional, unnecessary regulatory burden on the industry.
Finally, we believe that if petitioners are truly concerned about water quality issues, any proposed rules need to be focused on impaired watersheds and any evaluation should include all activities on those watersheds.
Now the rule-making process has moved to the public comment period. That process includes the opportunity for any citizen to comment by submitting remarks to the Division of Water Quality.
If you have any questions or concerns on this issue, please contact Tommy Stevens at NCPC: 919/781-0361 or tommy@ncpork.org.
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Disaster Preparedness for Farmers & Animal Waste Operators
Monday, June 29, 2009
3:00-6:00pm
NCCES-Duplin County Center, Kenansville
Weather Spotting & Hurricanes
Code Red & Emergency Management
Basic Farm Preparedness
Program offers 2 1/2 hours waste credit
No charge for the program
Attendees must pre-register by contacting Wanda Hargrove at 910-296-2143
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News from WashingtonFind out what's going on in Washington that affects the pork industry. Click here to keep up to date on NPPC's press releases. | |
