SCIENTIFIC EFFORT WASTED ON WASTE

Researchers in Illinois are trying to find a solution to an age-old problem: the stench that comes from hog-raising operations.

Researchers all over Illinois are pursuing a means to reduce the odor: At Illinois State University, scientists are combining manure with yard waste to create a high-quality compost. Researchers at the University of Illinois are looking at ways to turn waste into useful, more pleasant smelling substances such as fuel oil and fertilizer. Others are considering other technological methods, including air scrubbers, huge drying fans and hydroponics -- using plants to scrub the odor-causing contaminants out of watery manure.

At Southern Illinois University, pigs are eating to their heart's content so that a professor can use the manure to test a theory that pesky zebra mussels could be used to reduce the stink of raising hogs.

A few years ago there weren't the big hog-producing operations that exist today, but people living near or passing by those small farms on which hogs were raised had to put up with the smell. Today's large hog-producing operations generate an even more pungent foul odor.

But hog farming is a smelly business. Short of a modern miracle, it always will be -- despite the time and money researchers put in to try to freshen up the hog lots.