With help from celebrities, a film spotlights NC’s hog farm conflicts | Opinion
As a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, Jamie Berger wrote her undergraduate honors thesis on how North Carolina’s industrial hog farms harm animals, people and the environment.
Ten years later, she’s still immersed in the subject, this time as the writer and producer of a documentary that has drawn support from Hollywood celebrities, a rock star and a U.S. senator.
“We’re definitely building some buzz, drawing some attention,” said Berger, 32, a Cary native who now lives in Philadelphia.
The documentary Berger completed, along with director Shawn Bannon, is “The Smell of Money.” It focuses on how hog farms affected the late Elsie Herring and others living near Duplin County farms under contract with Smithfield Foods and how those residents successfully challenged the noxious industry.
The film has had screenings around North Carolina and the nation. This month it became available online through streaming services. It’s title is drawn from the phrase that North Carolina pork baron Wendell Murphy famously used to describe the stench produced by industrial hog farming.
The actor and producer Kate Mara, known for her role in the Netflix series “House of Cards,” took an interest in Berger’s project and signed on as an executive director. Her sister, the actor Rooney Mara, and Rooney’s partner, actor Joaquin Phoenix, have hosted screenings and talked up the film in Los Angeles. Rock star Joan Jett hosted a screening in New York City and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., endorsed the film and shared its trailer with his 195,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter.
Given its celebrity support, “The Smell of Money” could be considered for an Oscar nomination. “We’re hoping for some recognition from the Academy members,” Berger said, “even if it’s just landing on the short list, not actually a final win.”
The industrial hog industry’s cruel treatment of its animals, the environmental damage from hog waste and the suffering of those who live in its shadow are well known in North Carolina. Residents near hog farms have won multimillion-dollar damage awards and The News & Observer received a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for its exploration of the industry’s effects on the environment and its influence over state lawmakers.
Despite all that, the industry’s hazards continue and its influence in the Republican-controlled legislature is stronger than ever. Berger’s documentary, produced on a $200,000 budget, spotlights a problem that could be fixed by national exposure and popular pressure.
“This is a story of racism, of environmental injustice, of classism as well as the average, everyday person up against a large corporation and it’s all manifested in the story of hog production in North Carolina,” Berger said. “It’s a way of illustrating issues that are much larger than the state itself and much larger than the pork industry.”
Berger said Smithfield Foods “was not interested in engaging with us,” and instead referred the filmmakers to N.C. Farm Families, a group that supports the hog farming industry.
Chad Herring, the group’s executive director, said the documentary is “an attack on hog farms produced by activists who want people to stop eating meat. That’s what the film is really about. Hollywood should celebrate farmers across America, not smear them with fiction like this.”
Berger is open about her activism, but she said conditions that the documentary explores are plain facts, even if the industry would rather that they not be revealed and meat consumers would prefer not to know.
“This is a matter of basic rights, fundamental rights, having access to clean air, clean water, a safe place to live, the ability to have your kids run around outside without having to worry about them getting sick,” she said.
Berger has wrestled with these issues for more than a decade. They aren’t going away, but thanks to her writing, film director Bannon’s work and the support of celebrities, these issues also are not going unnoticed.
The documentary is available to rent or purchase at www.smellofmoneydoc.com
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com
