THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995             TAG: 9510120346
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: DES MOINES, IOWA                   LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

STATE LEADS IN HOG PRODUCTION

A pair of North Carolina-based farms may lead the country in pork production, but Iowa remains the nation's largest hog-producing state, a survey finds.

Successful Farming magazine's second survey of the nation's largest pork producers shows Murphy Family Farms of Rose Hill, N.C., remains No. 1, followed again by Carroll's Foods of Warsaw, N.C.

The Des Moines-based magazine ranks hog farms by the number of sows. It said Murphy Farms owns 227,500 sows in North Carolina, Missouri and Iowa, up from 180,000 in last year's survey.

Carroll's Foods has 110,000 sows in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina after halting expansion last year because of uncertainty over hog prices.

North Carolina, the nation's No. 2 hog-producing state, has two other farms in the top 10. Prestage Farms of Clinton is ranked fifth with 96,000 sows, while Goldsboro Milling Co. of Goldsboro is ranked ninth with 52,000 sows.

Iowa, however, is the nation's largest hog-producing state, even though it does not have a farm in the top 10.

Despite a string of problems that have led state officials to consider tightening regulations on North Carolina's hog industry, the hog population grew by 19 percent during the first nine months of this year.

Several waste lagoons ruptured, spilling millions of gallons of waste into roads and waterways. The state fined the owners of a Duplin County farm whose 25 million-gallon spill in June was the worst of its kind in state history.

Nevertheless, agricultural experts believe the recent industry explosion in North Carolina will continue for a few more years. by CNB