Raising a Stink

In Nebraska, as in many states across the nation, factory farms housing tens of thousands of hogs have altered the physical, cultural, and economic landscape, and have generated complex and deeply divisive conflicts among family farmers, environmentalists, agribusinesses, and elected officials. A reporter long familiar with the controversy, Carolyn Johnsen draws on a wealth of interviews, archival material, and her own extensive experience as a journalist to present a timely, informative, and balanced account of this complicated and troubling agricultural practice—and to put a human face on its causes and consequences. Here everyone has a say: farmers and neighbors suffering from proximity to the factory hog farms; pork producers adopting the latest hog confinement technology in the face of fierce opposition; politicians attempting to interpret the “science” and shape public policy in a maelstrom. The result is the story of a struggle for the heart and soul of rural America.

“Raising a Stink is not merely about pig stuff, but about grassroots democracy battling corporate autocracy. It’s an inspiring story of ordinary Americans standing up to hoggish greed.”—Jim Hightower, author of If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates, “Raising a Stink forces any of us who enjoys pork chops, a side of bacon, or a little sausage on our pizza to ask what responsibility we all have to know what industry we are supporting.”—Al Tompkins, writer, teacher, and journalist, “I know of no other book that illuminates so clearly why some farmers embrace the industrialization of agriculture while other family farmers so strongly resist it and why some in rural communities support ‘mega-hog farms’ while others adamantly oppose them.”—John Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics, University of Missouri, "A glimmer of hope for grass-roots reform of American farming practices. . . . Johnsen offers journalism at its peak—her book is an insightful, well-grounded study of the opposition to factory hog farms in Nebraska during the late 1990s."—Claire Strom, Montana, Magazine of Western History

Carolyn Johnsen is an award-winning reporter and associate producer for news and public affairs at Nebraska Public Radio Network.