Manure

Bad 4/93 cryptosporidium in Milwaukee. 400,000 ill. 7/ million gallons of hog manure spilled into Iowa river miles of river devastated. 6/95 25 million gallons into New River NC Source: Innes

Innes Manure is stored in lagoons and then spread on land. Lagoon capacity is expensive. The larger the lagoon relative to number of animals, the lower chance of a spill when it rains. Land disposal requires land. The more animals in one spot, the more transport is necessary to do the spreading, the bigger the incentive to not spread it properly

What to do? Can’t observe the spreading. Can regulate animal density Can regulate lagoon size

The N K problem Manure is not balanced in its N and K content containing too much K. If plants get enough N, then K rolls off. Adding more N is expensive because one must fertilize twice. Under fertilization with N is expensive.

Pigs in Space Uses county data and the spatial relation between counties to account for hog farm location. Closeness to infrastrucure (like slaughter plants) and other hog farms is positive. In the East, people repel hogs, but not in West.

Conclusion Scale economies (or just pure market power) have caused concentration of livestock. Livestock waste disposal depends on livestock being spread thin. Regulation is difficult since neither EPA nor the states with production wish to take on the large hog farms.