This Little Piggy Went to Market
Deanna Kuder
El Dorado Middle School
El Dorado, Kansas

Overview:
Southwest Kansas is the site of development of mega hog farms. Students will consider the impact of this development from several angles: Environmental, economic, and the human physical and emotional impact. General information will be presented about the methods employed by the hog industry. The activity will be a simulation activity by which students take on different roles at a county-wide public meeting to discuss the advisability of allowing the mega hog farm industry into their county.

Grade Level: 7-9

Time Needed: Three class periods for presentation and activity

Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, Economics, Science, Health
 
Geographic Themes:
Regions, Human-Environment Interaction, Movement
 
Kansas Social Studies Standards for Benchmarks, Grade Levels 8-K:
The student will understand the connections among people, places, and environments in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations in the world.
 
The students will understand the effects of economics, science, and technology in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations in the world.
 
The student will understand the rile of government and civic ideals and practices in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations in the world.
 
National Geography Standards, Grades 5-8:

#6

 The geographically informed person knows and understands the student is able to evaluate the characteristics of places and regions from a variety of points of view, as exemplified by being able to obtain information reflecting different points of view about the proposed use of a plot of land in the student's local community, and then analyze those views on the basis of what could be best for the community.

#13

 The geographically informed person knows and understands the student is able to explain why people cooperate but also engage in conflict to control the Earth's surface, as exemplified by being able to explain the reasons for conflict over the use of land and propose strategies to shape a cooperative solution.

#14

 The geographically informed person knows and understands the student is able to identify and explain the ways in which human-induced changes in the physical environment in one place can cause changes in other places, as exemplified by being able to explain how environmental changes made in one place affect other places.

#18

 The geographically informed person knows and understands the student is able to analyze the interaction between physical and human systems to understand possible causes and effects of current conditions on Earth and to speculate on future conditions. The student is able to integrate multiple points of view to analyze and evaluate contemporary geographic issues, as exemplified by being able to (participate in) a skit (simulation activity) for people with different points of view on the same geographic issue.
Materials:
Numbered character statements that will serve as a basis for the role-playing activity. (Students should be encouraged to expand the dialogue and to bring props that will enhance the character development and thus the activity.) To set the stage, having a table for the county commissioners to sit behind and a speaker's stand for the individuals to make presentations would give a greater measure of realism to the activity.

Resources:

Objective:

  1. Students will reflect about and identify reasons for locating or not locating a hog farm in their county.
  2. Students will participate in the simulation.

Procedures:
Day One

  1. The teacher will give a general overview about the growing hog industry in southwest Kansas.
  2. Characters can be assigned, and the corresponding statements can be passed out.
  3. Encourage the students to expand the role and take on the personality of the character assigned.
  4. Suggest that they bring props to help define their character (hats, bib overalls, baby doll, nurse's cap, etc.).
  5. Make it clear to the students that there will be an assignment given after the simulation activity that will require their attention to all details and all character's presentations.

Days Two and Three

  1. The county commissioners will listen and ask questions for clarification purposes. They will draw numbers to establish the order for speaking before the group.
  2. After all initial presentations have been made, opportunities for additional presentations, as time permits, can be offered.

Assessment:

  1. Observe students' participation in the simulation.
  2. Check student papers for the inclusion of reflections about hog farms.
  3. After the simulation activity, the student will complete a reflection paper in two parts:
  4. First, voice the position you would take if you were, in reality, the person whose character you were assigned to role-play. Give reasons for your position on the advisability of allowing the mega hog farm into your county.
  5. Second, as an observer only, and being as fair-minded as possible, explain your personal opinion about the advisability of allowing the mega hog farm into their county. Explain, in detail, your position.
Extensions:
Students can study the soil maps of the counties in southwest Kansas and their home county (They may be obtained by contacting the county soil conservation office). They can use the soil texture chart to create a variety of soil types and then attempt to make a model of a lagoon in their soil type. Students should be able to determine the soil types that are more suited to this use.
 
Interviews:
Character Statements:
  1. County Commissioner #1 - I am a dry-land farmer in the far southeast part of the county. My land is sandy, but has enough loam in it that if I keep the ground covered, I don't suffer too much from wind erosion. I'm nearing retirement age, with two married children who have professions and live out-of-state. Neither will be taking over my farm when I retire.
  2. County Commissioner #2 - I'm a business owner and live in town. I deal in large farm machinery such as tractors, combines, discs, and that sort of thing. I'm married and have two children, seven and thirteen.
  3. County Commissioner #3-I'm an irrigating farmer with a couple of sections along the river, and my homestead is north of the river a couple of miles. There, at the homeplace, I keep about 1,000 head of feeder calves and steers year-round. My boys are both in high school, and I hope that at least one of them will see fit to carry on the family farm when I retire.
  4. Neighbor Farmer - Odor from hogs is bad enough when there are only a few in a pen, but put thousands of them within a square mile, and there is just nothing you can say that will convince me that they won't stink!
  5. Cattle Rancher - This land has been used to feed out cattle for years. We can't even produce enough grain to feed out all the beef animals in the surrounding areas now. What do we need pigs for?
  6. Neighbor Farmer - This land is sandy, and as an irrigator, I know how quickly liquid soaks on down through that top layer of soil. What's to keep that lagoon sewage from soaking through just as quickly? Where would we be then if that got into our water wells?
  7. Farmer - I hear tell that hog operation takes fifty gallons of water a day for each and every hog. With that many hogs, they'll be wanting to drill more wells. What's that going to do to the availability of water for our fields and other livestock, not to mention our household needs?
  8. County Developer - Bringing the hog industry into our county will bring more jobs to the area. More business means more money and a stronger economy.
  9. Unemployed Single Man - What jobs will there be? I don't know anything about hogs, so I'll only qualify for the lower-paying jobs. I'm not really sure I want to spend all day with a bunch of pigs, anyway.
  10. Business Owner (Dress Shop) - If the jobs aren't filled with our own people, that means others will come to take those jobs. Who will they be? What sort of people will come to work with hogs at little more than minimum wage? I'm not sure that class of people will do my business any good at all.
  11. Real Estate Agent - If too many new folks come into the community, we'll have a real housing shortage for a time That's good for me, because houses will move quickly, and the prices will be much higher than they are now, but unless we get to planning, we'll have trailer parks going in instead of structures. This won't be as good for the community or the tax base.
  12. Grocery Store Owner - People have to eat, so the more people that come into the community, the better for me and my employees.
  13. Superintendent of Schools - I recently attended a meeting with other administrators, and some shared that the hog farms in their areas brought in many workers that did not speak English. After a few months they started bringing in their families and enrolling their kids in school. It can really present problems in the classroom if one-fourth of the students don't speak English. It means adding staff to assist the teachers with these students. It costs more in tax dollars to deal with these students.
  14. Car Dealer - My brother has a GM dealership in Haskell County, and he says that the farmers there had such bad crops last year because of the drought that if it hadn't been for the business that came to town connected to the hog farms, he really would have had a rough year. Maybe the folks that this could bring in would prove to be a little boost, or at least a buffer for our economy.
  15. Grain Producer - We grow a lot of grain in this county, and having another place to go with it, other than the cattle feed yards and trucking it out, might be a real plus. It's bound to hold the price up year-round.
  16. Chief of Police - Reports I've had about towns near some of those hog farms are that they're experiencing a rise in crime. There's no clear indication that the new folks are involved, but the statistics indicate more petty crimes like shoplifting and breaking and entering. We don't want to open up that can-of-worms for our community.
  17. County Assessor - In some counties the property valuation has taken a jump for farm land adjacent to property owned by the hog farms. Obviously, the farms aren't changing due to the hog farms, but their taxes are going up just the same. But when a farmer wants to sell out because they just can't take the smell anymore, they often sell at below market value because no one wants to live that close to all those hogs. On the other hand, if the hog farms want to expand, they'd be happy to pay more than market price to get the piece of land they want.
  18. Farm Wife - My sister and her husband live in Iowa where they have lots of hog farms. She says that in the areas that have a lot of mega hog farms, there is a very high rate of poverty. That isn't good for the economy, either.
  19. Hospital Administrator - In a rural community like we have here, 40-50 new jobs would be a benefit, but 400-500 would be more than we could handle with our current facilities. We would have to add more doctors, nurses and build on to the hospital. It is really hard to attract doctors to a rural community, and it is next to impossible to get a bond issue passed.
  20. Building Contractor - Of course, I'd be glad to see some new development in our community, but I'd like to see it come more slowly - a steady growth. Otherwise, outside contractors are going to come in here on a temporary basis and slap together a bunch of houses and leave town, taking that money with them. I live here, and the money I make from my business stays in the community.
  21. Farmer - One of the proposed sites is just down the road a few hundred feet from my home. They claim that odor from their lagoons isn't going to be a problem, but I've never seen a pig that didn't smell, and don't believe thousands of them won't stink to high heaven. I just don't trust someone who tells me pigs don't smell!
  22. Psychologist - I've read in my journals that people that live close to these mega hog farms really do suffer physically and mentally as a result. There is more tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and even confusion among neighbors of the hog farms. The odor from the hogs gets into the air, and it is absorbed into all materials, and even into the lungs. It can be a real problem for some folks.
  23. County Extension Agent - I heard another county agent tell about how the town folks there, especially the business men, were all excited about more business coming to town, so they took out an ad in the paper to welcome them. The farmers that had to live out by that smell all the time were upset. They called up and told those businesses they could have the old pig business and hoped it would be enough, because they weren't getting theirs anymore. The issue of town vs. country was a real sore one there. We don't want to split our county by taking sides over this issue.
  24. Young Mother - I read recently that there were some women who had miscarried several times. Come to find out, it was caused by their well water being polluted by runoff from some of those hog farms. They discovered that there were high levels of nitrates in the water. That is also dangerous for infants and small children. It can cause "blue baby syndrome."
  25. Non-Resident Farmer - My wife and I spent 30 years out on the farm and just moved to town two years ago. I'm still farming part of the land and renting out the rest, but I'd be really tempted to sell out my land if they offered me 30% over the market price like I've heard they've done before. Of course, I'd feel really bad for my old neighbors back on the farm. We've always been good friends, but I've got to plan for our retirement years, and I don't have any sons to take over the farming, so I need to get the best deal I can.
  26. Soil Conservation Service Employee - I'm just a secretary in the office, but I know enough about the soil type of this county to be concerned about having open lagoons that will handle as much sewage as half the human population of the entire state of Kansas. That's what is going to be happening in this four-county area if the hog farms go as they plan. The question isn't only do we want the smell, it also is what could it do to our water supply if it seeps out of these lagoons and filters down through our sandy soil and into the aquifer? We have a limited supply of water now: what happens if it goes bad?
  27. County Health Nurse - The KDHE says the lagoons are leakproof, but I've heard of some records that indicate otherwise, and even some lagoons in use that may be substandard.
  28. Newspaper Editor-I did some checking on this lagoon issue in the state of North Carolina, and there are estimates that half of all the lagoons there are leaking and 10% of drinking water wells in areas near lagoons have been polluted by the waste. In Iowa, they checked three newly constructed lagoons and found two of them to be leaking. It surely appears to be something to think about.
  29. City Engineer - On the question of lagoons, some smaller communities in our area use this system for sewage, and I've not heard of any problems. I'm sure they've been in use for nearly fifty years in some cases. I'd think we would have heard if there were a problem.
  30. Scientist with Kansas Geological Survey - I heard about your meeting tonight and just want to share my concerns. I know that there are some counties that have these hog farms already, and the lagoons, too. Some of the citizens are concerned about the issue of water quality and have sought help from the Kansas Water Office. They, in response, have asked the KDHE to require water and soil testing around those lagoons, but KDHE has refused, saying it is not necessary. My position is that waiting until pollution shows up in water wells that are 150-300 feet underground like you have in this county is too late. Continuous testing around lagoons can monitor a situation and give a chance to do something about a problem that otherwise wouldn't show up for another 60 years or so. So, if the hog farms do come into your county, consider how you're going to protect future water supply.
  31. Kansas State Senator Steven Morris - We've been talking in the Legislature for several years now about guidelines for the hog industry. I introduced a bill that would have required soil and water testing of lagoons in the livestock industry, and bonding to insure that proper clean-up would be conducted if needed. The bill received serious opposition from people in the northeast part of the state, who said they didn't need those kinds of restrictions. They were more concerned about what those mega farms were going to do to their market. My bill failed to get out of committee, but we will keep tabs on the issue and move accordingly. Currently, there has been enough pressure put on the KDHE, and the governor has gotten involved so that $100,000 has been set aside for a study of some of the lagoons by Kansas State University, and we'll be very interested in what their findings are.

bar

Top of Page | Lesson Plan V Content Page
Lesson Plans Content Page
Previous Lesson | Next Lesson

FHSU Geoscience | Kansas Geographic Alliance
National Geographic Society | Kansas Water Office
Fort Hays State University | Kansas State University

e-mail: pphillip@fhsu.edu

irc staff 11/13/97 (updated kn 06/21/99)
Disclaimer