Cargill officials have yet to move forward with planned testing of vaporizing equipment at a Conway County hog facility.
Mike Martin, a spokesman for Cargill's pork division, said the company does not yet have an estimated arrival date for the vaporizing equipment in the state from Port Richey, Fla.-based Plasma Energy Group.
The companies intend to vaporize hog waste through a method called plasma arc pyrolysis. The test will be conducted at Sandy River Farm near Morrilton, and, if successful, will be used to vaporize hog waste at C&H Hog Farms in Mount Judea.
Cargill and C&H have been working to alleviate concerns about the pollution risk posed by hog-waste ponds and hog waste spread as fertilizer on the rough karst terrain in the Buffalo National River's watershed.
The Buffalo National River -- the country's first national river -- is a popular tourist spot, with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2014, who spent about $56.5 million at area businesses, according to National Park Service data.
C&H Hog Farms, which opened in May 2013, is permitted to hold up to 2,500 sows and 4,000 piglets at a time. Small hog farms have existed in the watershed for years, but C&H is the first large-scale hog facility in the watershed.