Rural Residents' Attitudes Toward Increased Regulation of Large-Scale Swine Production

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Katie Dallam.
Dr. Michael Seipel, Faculty Mentor.
Rural Sociology Conference, 1999. Chicago, IL.

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Large-scale livestock facilities and their regulation have received extensive debate at the local, state, and federal levels. Residents of four northern Missouri counties—two with large-scale corporate swine facilities and two with varying levels of independent hog production—were surveyed (n=800) regarding attitudes toward increased regulation of these facilities. Fifty-four percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that increased regulation was needed. Residents in counties with the large-scale facilities were more likely to feel that the benefits of the operations outweighed their costs and to oppose increased regulation. Respondents who knew larger numbers of persons employed by corporate swine production operations were also more likely to oppose increased regulation. Respondents more likely to favor increased regulation were those who: experienced annoying livestock odors at their homes, perceived a greater risk to their drinking water from livestock operations, believed that large-scale swine operations had more negative than positive impacts on rural communities, or reported belonging to an environmental-related organization. Somewhat surprisingly, farmers and those who used to farm were also more likely to favor increased regulation.