Producer Profiles

George H. Pettus – A Team Player
The swine industry had always worked hard to protect the environment beginning with the Blue Ribbon Commission and then the .0200 regulations. In the early 1990s, with stiffening regulations and heated political pressure and misguided perceptions, integrators recognized the need to have environmental specialists representing their companies.

Goldsboro Milling began as a family operation in the early 1900s in downtown Goldsboro and has remained committed to quality. An integrated turkey company, they decided to diversify their operations and began swine production in 1989. Goldsboro Hog Farms became part of the industry growth and by 1999 grew to over 68,000 sows. Recognized as leaders in turkey technology, Goldsboro also lead in the utilization of the latest swine production methods. Three-site production, isolation units on every sow farm and artificial insemination centers are advances they helped develop on a large commercial level.

The company recognized early the need to set high standards environmentally and was one of the first Integrators to hire a Technical Specialist from the North Carolina Division of Soil and Water. George H. Pettus had been designing animal operations with Soil and Water Conservation in Wayne County for six years before making the move to private industry. He joined Goldsboro Milling in 1992 as Environmental Manager, and his commitment to environmental stewardship within Goldsboro Milling has put him in the forefront as a leader in developing a unified philosophy for the industry. George began designing corporate and contract farms for Goldsboro Hog Farms under current guidelines of North Carolina standards and .0200 regulations. As the rules and regulations continued to strengthen, he increased his commitment to improve the need of environmental measures in his designs and improve the level of education among the contract growers and colleagues.

Due to the moratorium and an increase in rules and regulation, George's responsibilities shifted from building and expansion to providing hands-on technical assistance to the contract growers such as methods of proper land application, lagoon monitoring, and revising and amending Waste Utilization Plans, nutrient and crop management. In addition, he continued to search out new technologies that would improve the swine farmers' waste management, which in turn will improve the surrounding environment. George is an instructor for Animal Waste Management Operator Certification, and a Certified Assessor for the National Pork Producers Council’s On-Farm Odor/Environmental Assistance Program. Pettus also serves on the National Pork Producers Council Environmental Committee.

George is responsible for manure management and crop production on 41 corporate farms and assists contract producers in a technical manner, reviewing their record-keeping techniques, their waste analysis and soil samples, and assists in revising waste treatment and irrigation systems. However, today a major concern of George is centers around regulations and a new administration that seems unwilling to take a position on the issues revolving around waste management. “Nearly 65 percent of my time is spent in the political and regulatory arena defending the existence of the pork industry.” He is disturbed with proposed inspection forms that will prioritize farms by risk rating. “They have written themselves the authority to put almost every farm in medium or high priority. The farmer must then submit information that will negate and lower his rating. This is time consuming and unfair in that producers are having to prove the regulator’s assumption is incorrect.” In others words, the farmers are considered guilty until proven innocent. Despite the workload and his on-going battle with regulatory groups, Pettus keeps the good-neighbor policy a top priority. “Listening to neighbors that have concerns with odor and proper land application and discussing solutions with them is essential to a successful manure management program,” explains Pettus. “I tend to be harder on our growers than the Division of Water Quality,” explains Pettus. “If they meet my criteria, producers won’t have trouble meeting DWQ standards.” George loves his work and is proud of those he represents. “Goldsboro Milling has been very proactive in developing high environmental standards even before they were law," says George. “Working with a company that considers being a good neighbor top priority and environmental stewardship a must means a lot to me and is very rewarding.” He continues, “Everyone has an area of expertise and they all do a good job. It’s a team at Goldsboro Milling.”