Fueling Bacon: Meet Mrs. Nancy, a Feedtruck Driver

Nancy Kennedy didn’t plan on becoming a feed truck driver, but that’s exactly what she’s been doing for over 30 years at Smithfield Hog Production.

Mrs. Nancy, as she’s often called, doesn’t just deliver feed to farms across eastern North Carolina. She brings a whole lot of heart too. She has a true passion for the agricultural industry and loves to share about it with all ages.

She considers herself one of the “old timers” amongst the other drivers and doesn’t mind acting as a mentor to them if they want. Her favorite part of the job is spending time outside and enjoying the scenery.

“I love I get to see the sun come up every morning, and I just I sing to the cows sometimes when I'm out on the farms; they love for me to sing to them,” said Mrs. Nancy.

She loves to be able to meet and talk to the farmers on her deliveries too. The feeling is mutual among the farmers.  If you ever have the pleasure to meet Mrs. Nancy, you’ll understand why. She is truly one of the good ones with the kindest of souls. Often, when Mrs. Nancy delivers feed, she’ll leave a note with a simple John 3:16.

Apart from the day to day of the job, she also loves to be able to attend ag events and share about her love of agriculture and delivering feed. She has taught and shared with many school groups. The intent is not just to provide agricultural education to students, but also to show them career opportunities in the industry.

You don’t just have to be a farmer to be in the agricultural industry. The amount of jobs is incredible. Feed truck drives are just one example. Goodness knows farmers couldn’t farm without our truck drivers. Much like farmers, truck drivers know the show must go on despite adverse weather conditions. Pigs still need to eat even if it is raining sideways outside their barns.

That is one piece of advice Mrs. Nancy gives to folks interested in becoming a truck driver: “You have to be prepared to and know that animals eat on weekends and holidays and through the summer. They don't take off. It's not a Monday through Friday job; it's not an eight to five job. So, the schedule's demanding, especially in the wintertime.”

Even with a demanding schedule, Mrs. Nancy loves her job! She also still finds time to be an active member of the community. She and her husband invest in many young people’s lives. Her husband is a school teacher and coach. They are both youth leaders in their church. They simply show up for kids in the community and pour into them. They do much of this as a way to honor the memory of their own daughter who they lost in 2010 in a four-wheeler accident.

People like Mrs. Nancy are the ones behind your food. They are your coaches, youth leaders, neighbors, and friends. They are how food gets to the grocery store and ultimately on your plate.  Here is to the Mrs. Nancy’s of the world. The ones working with passion and dedication. The ones who make our days brighter and help produce food for our families.

To listen to more of Mrs. Nancy’s story, listen to Raised on the Farm podcast. 

Looking Back: The Smithfield Lawsuits

It was three years ago this month when the nuisance lawsuits against Smithfield and Murphy-Brown were settled. It came on the same day that an appeals court upheld the questionable rulings of a biased judge and the exorbitant awards of a Wake County jury located far away from North Carolina hog farms.

A lot has changed since then, and a lot has remained the same. Here are some of the highlights:

What’s Changed

• The NC General Assembly has passed legislation that preserves and protects the Right to Farm. This includes updates to the Farm Act that clarify who can sue farms for nuisance (neighbors who live within a half-mile of the farm); when they can sue (within one year of any substantial changes to farm operations); and how much they can recover (no more than the fair market value of their property). The legislation also states that punitive damages cannot be awarded if a farm has not violated their permit within the past three years. Challenges to these laws were rejected by the NC Supreme Court.

• A trial lawyer at the heart of the Smithfield litigation is currently running for the Republican nomination for Governor of North Carolina. Bill Graham is a partner at Wallace & Graham, the Salisbury law firm that spearheaded the Smithfield lawsuits and originally filed lawsuits against individual family farmers in North Carolina. “This is not just a case. This is a cause,” Graham said of the lawsuits, which sought no changes to our farms — only money.

• An increasing number of North Carolina hog farms are now covering lagoons to capture methane emissions and generate renewable natural gas. The lagoon covers reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce odors, and minimize the potential for flooding. Predictably, activist groups who frequently complain about odors and flooding are staunchly opposed to these biogas projects.  

 What Hasn’t Changed

• Attacks against the pork industry haven’t stopped. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and the Duplin County chapter of the N.C. NAACP filed a Title VI complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2021, alleging that DEQ is violating the civil rights of minorities in Duplin and Sampson counties by issuing biogas permits on hog farms. (Activist groups filed a similar complaint in 2014 regarding the issuance of  hog farm permits. That complaint was settled in 2018 with no finding of discrimination.)

• The Attacks Continue, Part II: Activist groups continue to spread false and misleading information about NC hog farms, including studies designed to raise health concerns. One example — a “study” by a Duke University professor that alleges residents who live near NC hog farms have elevated risks of disease and death. Despite the lack of  any evidence that ties health claims to hog farms — even the study’s authors acknowledge that there’s no causation or correlation — the media continues to reference flawed studies like this.

• The Attacks Continue, Part III: NC hog farms were at the center of another lawsuit against Smithfield Foods. This suit alleged that animal waste and associated odors and dust from a Duplin County farm traveled beyond the property line and were “trespassing” on the neighbors’ property. The creative attempt to get around the restrictions on nuisance lawsuits was dismissed in September 2023.

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 We know that those who are opposed to animal agriculture will continue to attack our hog farms. But, rest assured, one thing that won’t change is that NC Farm Families will stand up and speak out for our farm families. We’ll continue to sound the alarm about the legal and political threats facing our industry and work to educate residents about the positive steps being taken on our farms.

Two sides to a story: The farmer’s side

I’m a farmer. And I raise hogs. I read Ned Barnett’s editorial about the ‘nuisance’ trials in Raleigh, and I’d like to offer a farmer’s perspective.

Mr. Barnett was critical of two groups of people: Hog farmers, along with Smithfield Foods, and lawmakers. He wrote how our farms degrade eastern North Carolina and how we “treat swaths of eastern North Carolina as cesspools.” And he wrote that a rally held to support Joey Carter – whose farm is being closed down after the outcome of the second nuisance trail – was the work of “Republican lawmakers” who voters ‘should toss out’ of office.

Mr. Barnett didn’t have a kind word to say about either farmers or lawmakers– he views nuisance lawsuits that put farmers out of business as a virtue and views lawmakers who disagree as wrong.

But are farmers the villains he describes? Let’s step back and examine a couple facts. Four of Joey Carter’s neighbors, who live closer to his farm than the two plaintiffs in the second trial, testified Carter’s farm is not a nuisance to them. So did the jury awarding the two plaintiffs $25 million make sense? Or did justice run amuck in a Raleigh courtroom? Stop to remember how these lawsuits started: A group of lawyers from out-of-state came to North Carolina and went door-to-door signing up clients so they could sue farmers like Joey Carter. The proposition they made to their potential clients was simple: You join our lawsuits, we’ll pay the bills, and if we win you’ll get part of the money.

Ned Barnett never mentioned that fact in his editorial. And worse, the same fact was ignored during the trial. (The judge decided jurors should not be told how these lawsuits began.)The original out-of-state lawyers are now gone, replaced by another group of lawyers from Texas, and you have to give those Texas lawyers credit: They’re lethal in a courtroom. And their lawsuits have also been lethal to farmers. Both of the farms they sued over are being shut down. Which is the reason lawmakers decided it was time to strengthen legislation to protect farmers from predatory lawyers, whose lawsuits threaten to cripple a pillar of eastern North Carolina’s economy.

As I said, I raise hogs. However, even when I disagree with Mr. Barnett, I respect his right to have his say. But, at the same time, people need to hear both sides. I’m also grateful to Lt. Governor Dan Forest, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, and to Republican – and Democratic – lawmakers for taking a stand for farmers like me. 

-Chad Herring, Executive Director of NC Farm Families