Old McDonald would have felt at home on the Senate floor Thursday, where pigs and dairy cows dominated the debate.

The annual farm bill includes provisions that would prohibit plant-based drinks from being marketed as "milk" and would make it harder for people who live near hog farms or other agricultural operations to sue over odors and other nuisance conditions.

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Lawmakers on both sides of the debate claimed they were defending the "little guy," but just who that was depended on whom you asked.

For Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union, the "little guy" was a family farmer trying to fend off greedy out-of-state trial lawyers. For Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, it was an old lady whose family property is spoiled by waste sprayed from a nearby industrial hog farm.

"People ought to count first," Lowe said. "I'm concerned about people that cannot fend and fight for themselves."

"I want to see people first, too, and the people that may be left out of this equation, instead of alluding to big business, is small family farms," Tucker said. "Those family farms that raise hogs and raise chickens are little people. They don't have the money to fight big business, nor do they have the money to fight those who want to take their livelihood away."

Dozens of people have sued the hog production division of Smithfield Foods, which contracts with farms across eastern North Carolina to raise pigs. The standard operation keeps hundreds of pigs in barns, collects their waste in lagoons and sprays the liquid on nearby fields.

A federal court jury in April awarded several neighbors of Bladen County hog farms $50 million in damages over foul smells, insects and vermin that spread from the farms to the neighbors' properties. A judge later reduced that award because of a state cap on punitive damages.

"Why would we want to deprive people of their day in court?" asked Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, charging that the legislation "fundamentally changes" existing law by setting new standards for allowable practices and the burden of proof needed to win a lawsuit.

Sen. Erica Smith, D-Northampton, said she also wants to protect family farmers but said the bill appears to favor dairy farmers at the expense of soybean farmers.

Soybeans are a much bigger crop for North Carolina than dairy, Smith said, but the prohibition on marketing soy milk could pinch soybean farmers' already declining revenues. She said the provision also is an unconstitutional restraint of their commercial free speech rights.

The criticisms of the legislation prompted impassioned defenses of farmers by Sens. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, and Brent Jackson, R-Sampson.

"We're supporting the backbone of North Carolina," said Rabon, who said he grew up on a farm. "If you want to starve to death, go on down the road. You can't live on kohlrabi and collard greens and the things that we use that have to have some fatback in it."

"This pig farmers ... have abided by every rule and law this building has ever passed, and they're doing it right. But then they still get sued," said Jackson, a farmer himself. "I should not have to be standing here defending this [bill]. There's not a dang one of you sitting in this room that has not eaten today."

Jackson's voice cracked several times as he invoked the Bible, national security, images of ghost towns and people's complacent attitude toward stocked grocery shelves.

"Agriculture built this country," he said. "It's time we stand up for the backbone of this country and this state."

The Senate gave preliminary approval to the bill with a 32-13 vote. A final vote is expected next week before it moves to the House.