# RECORD 977446bbb49b4d764e634547886ae927f75e8e35
# TITLE: Costs of Exposure to Industrial Livestock Operations
# YEAR: 2024.0  VENUE: Land Economics  DOI: 10.3368/le.101.1.011224-0003
# AUTHORS: Kay Jowers; Yu Ma; Christopher Timmins
# PAGES: 37  CANDIDATE TABLE PAGES (1-based): [29]
# ABSTRACT: Abstract Concentrated animal feeding operations, particularly hog and poultry farms, have expanded rapidly in North Carolina in recent decades. The air pollution and water contamination they generate cause many environmental and health problems for local communities. Using the universe of farm characteristics and housing transaction data in North Carolina, we recover hedonic estimates of property value impacts from exposure to these industrial livestock operations. Our results show large and significant negative impacts on nearby home values, particularly when those properties depend on private wells.


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The Costs of Exposure to Industrial Livestock 
Operations 
Kay Jowers,† Yu Ma,‡ Christopher Timmins* 
 
Abstract 
Concentrated animal feeding operations, particularly hog and poultry farms, have 
expanded rapidly in North Carolina in recent decades. The air pollution and water 
contamination they generate cause many environmental and health problems for 
local communities. Using the universe of farm characteristic and housing 
transaction data in North Carolina, we recover hedonic estimates of property value 
impacts from exposure to these industrial livestock operations. Our results show 
large and significant negative impacts on nearby home values, particularly when 
those properties are dependent on private wells. 
 
Keywords: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation; Hedonic Model 
JEL Codes:  Q15, Q51 
 
 
 
 
 
†kay.jowers@duke.edu: Director for Just Environments, Nicholas Institute for Energy, 
Environment & Sustainability and Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University; ‡yu.ma@duke.edu: 
Postdoctoral Associate, Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University; *ctimmins@wisc.edu: 
Gary J. Gorman Affordable Housing Professor, Wisconsin School of Business, 4291 Grainger Hall, 
975 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706 (Corresponding Author).   
doi:10.3368/le.101.1.011224-0003
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Table 2: Summary Statistics 
 
                      Private Well    Community Water        t-test (CWS – PW) 
                                                        Houses                     Houses 
Housing and Environmental Attributes 
Housing Price 
147589.8 (75440) 
147936.3 (88530) 
346.44 (0.39) 
Square Footage 
1713.40 (567.07) 
1767.92 (620.47) 
54.51*** (8.25) 
Housing Age 
22.91 (21.64) 
27.37 (24.50) 
4.46*** (17.55) 
# Bathrooms 
2.20 (0.79) 
2.27 (0.81) 
0.07*** (7.30) 
# Bedrooms 
2.81 (1.10) 
2.82 (1.05) 
0.01 (0.63) 
Acres 
2.19 (6.77) 
1.23 (4.83) 
-0.96*** (-13.10) 
Basement Sqft 
4.19 (65.83) 
6.92 (87.98) 
2.73*** (3.37) 
Landfill 
0.24 (0.67) 
0.07 (0.42) 
-0.16*** (-22.98) 
RSEI 
1630.85 (5744) 
695.98 (2979) 
-934.87*** (-15.47) 
Hogs Exposure 
3km 
0.35 (0.92) 
0.16 (0.61) 
-0.20*** (-19.92) 
4km 
0.66 (1.53) 
0.32 (1.01) 
-0.34*** (-20.52) 
5km 
1.03 (2.27) 
0.56 (1.57) 
-0.47*** (-19.15) 
Poultry Exposure 
3km 
0.32 (0.80) 
0.20 (0.60) 
-0.13*** (-14.63) 
4km 
0.63 (1.26) 
0.39 (0.96) 
-0.24*** (-17.67) 
5km 
1.03 (1.84) 
0.67 (1.40) 
-0.36*** (-17.87) 
N 
9680 
36801 
 
First three columns: mean (std); last column: diff in mean (t-stat), *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p 
< 0.1; landfill: # active landfill sites within 3km; RSEI: block group toxic chemicals; Exposure 
adjusted by large CAFO: 1 million SSLW, 100,000 total bird count; The summary statistics use 
same data as 5km hedonic specification, and we only keep houses with any hogs or poultry within 
10km. 
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Figures 
 
Figure 1 East NC CAFO Distribution 
     
 
 
(Fig 1a) Hog Farms Location 
              (Fig 1b) Poultry Farm Location 
Figure (a): Distribution of hogs (provided by NC Department of Environmental Quality); Figure 
(b): Distribution of poultry farms (provided by Environmental Working Group) in eastern NC; The 
area is decomposed into 1,855 block groups, where the darker areas are those with a higher 
percentage of people of color. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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