How many poultry factory farms operate in North Carolina? Where? How large? And how do they impact surrounding communities? Much of that information is not publicly available — and therein lies the problem.

If you want to know where to find factory-style hog farms in our state, you don’t have to drive through every county and follow your nose. You can sort through state permitting records, or just go to one of the detailed, publicly available reports and maps regarding such operations. That’s typical of high-polluting facilities under federal and state laws designed to protect public health.

But if you want the same information on poultry farms, you run into a legal wall of confidentiality. They don’t have to have a state or federal pollution control permit, despite the tons of waste they produce annually. The state Agriculture Department inspects them for bird health and mortality, in theory to protect the safety of the food supply chain. But by state law, that information is kept confidential from the public. 

If you’re in a county overrun by large numbers of these chicken and turkey factory farms, and you want more details on their operations and impacts, you’re out of luck. The same goes for clean water and environmental justice groups trying to collect information to evaluate cumulative pollution and disparate impacts on communities of color. Thus far, efforts to reform this situation have been blocked in the General Assembly.

However, the problem is beginning to draw more public attention, since meat processing plants have become ground zero for COVID-19 outbreaks in our state. Look for this issue to be raised more forcefully and effectively next year, especially if this fall’s elections produce new state legislative leadership.