Is Cheap Chicken Worth the Price?

Tofu can be cheaper than $ 2 a pound. (4.00 / 6)

Sic Transit Gloria Locavore!

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by: Asinus Asinum Fricat @ Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 14:18:57 PM UTC

Cheap Chickens (4.00 / 8)

Howdy,  

The new regulations, which are in effect now, sort of, require that all Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), including dry manure poultry operations that discharge or propose to discharge to the waters of the State must apply to the Maryland Department of the Environment for a discharge permit by February 27, 2009. That application must include a copy of the AFO's Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP). For those operations that do not have a plan ready by the required submittal date, the applicant must provide additional information detailing their efforts to comply with the CAFO rule and a timetable for completing a plan.

I believe everything has been delayed due to lawsuits. Next you need to have over 37,500 broilers, (it is my understanding that some of the newer operations are broiler condo's with only 37,000 birds.)

Most of the large processors, have already implemented plans. It is my understanding Perdue has a facility capable of creating 30 railroad hopper car loads of chicken manure daily from  the 400 or so houses they are affiliated with on the Delmarva Peninsula.  It is my understanding the plant runs at full capacity. These train cars go to the mid west where the stuff is dumped on fields there.

As an organic farmer I am very aware that chicken manure is great fertilizer. In my case being somewhat lazy, and shoveling manure is a pain in the back,  I let the chickens spread it for me by letting  my birds roam during the day. I would need about 37,000 more chickens to come under the current rules. Although I do hope to expand some but even if I do expand I figure it will take a decade to do 37,000 chickens the way I operate.  

That said however the concern from an environmental stand point is not just the nitrogen and phosphorous in the manure that  goes into the Chesapeake Bay and what it does but the other stuff that is feed the chickens. For example the anti-biotics Gentamicin and  ionophores to name 2 of additives I know of, I am not all that familiar with what goes into the feed, but most of what goes in these chickens mouth comes out of them in the manure. Actually for marketing purpose since the things, (i hate to call them chickens since they have been totally manufactured) get some of the additives injected while still in egg form. Since their lifespan is about 6 weeks from hatching to boneless breast a good dose as an egg will see them through their lives and the seller can legally say this chicken was grown without additives. Or at least this is what I thought I heard in the Md nutrient management class farmers in Maryland are required to take.  This sort of stuff does not pertain to me so I don't pay much attention.

Anyways the plants growing in the fields where the manure is spread, absorb these materials into their vegetation. This has spurn a new industry of growing anti-biotics, simply you can eat plants grown in this manure and get a bigger dosage of anti-biotics than a doctor would ever prescript to if you are ill.

Next what really amazes me about all this is if you think about it from an environmental stand point, is the corn fields that this stuff is applied to is really the largest form of impervious surface in the state. Stop and take a look at a conventional corn field this summer. Herbicides were sprayed hopefully to kill everything. About 10% of the field is the stalks of GMO corn designed to survive the herbicide. The rest is bare earth covered with the manure full of all sorts of additives such as the anti-biotics. If you stick your finger, personally I would wear a glove if you do this, in that soil, for all intents in purposes it is dead. Try finding a worm. When it rains the dirt and everything else washes away.

If the soil were living it and the living things would take up all the nutrients in the manure and give back stuff that was good for the land and the bay in the form of good food.

The state NPES CAFO Permit Programs are in various stages of development. The CAFO NPDES regulations allow the state one year to modify their programs to bring them inline with regulatory requirements. EPA will be working with the states to ensure that their programs meet regulatory requirements in that time frame. Until such time,
EPA will recognize coverage under existing programs to fulfill the duty to apply requirements.
There may also be difficulty in meeting the nutrient management plan requirements within the specified time frame. EPA and the states have agreed that existingNutrient
Management Plans or Conservation Plans may be submitted provided there is also information submitted regarding when they will be updated to meet federal standards and
who will be doing the updating.
If you need to seek permit coverage, you should submit a Notice of Intent to the state
permitting agency. In addition to the NOI, you should also submit your current Nutrient Management Plan or Conservation Plan. With this submittal, you should indicate the date that it will be updated and who will be doing the updating.

The reality however is what will be really done will be a  bunch of smoke and mirrors and every thing will be the same. Here's why:

Poultry production is the economic engine driving the state's agricultural industry, making up 37 percent, or $600 million, of the state's $1.6 billion in farm cash receipts. According to the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., (DPI), Maryland ranks seventh in the nation in broiler production. There are 1,824 poultry farms on the Delmarva Peninsula, earning $136 million for producers. On the Eastern Shore, according to DPI, Wicomico County is the nation's 10th leading county for poultry production. Worcester is 19th, Somerset is 41st, Caroline is 55th and Dorchester is 99th. There are four major poultry companies with growers or processing facilities in Maryland: Tyson Foods Inc. (headquartered in Springdale, Ark.); Perdue Farms Inc. (headquartered in Salisbury, Md.); Mountaire Farms Inc. (headquartered in Selbyville, Del.) and Allen Family Foods Inc. (headquartered in Seaford, Del.) Last year, 15,000 people were employed on the Delmarva Peninsula processing chickens, where they earned $343 million.  In fact, each job in poultry processing, according to a 1998 Price Waterhouse study, creates 7.2 additional indirect jobs in a part of the state in need of employment opportunities.

Poultry production is also vital in maintaining the working, rural landscape that characterizes Maryland. Corn and soybean production by Maryland farmers is inexorably linked to the poultry industry. The farms that produce corn and soybeans make up 60 percent of the state's farmland. Virtually all of the corn and soybeans grown on the Delmarva Peninsula is used in poultry feed.

Of concern now, is the condition of this economic engine, poignantly highlighted by the decision of Tyson Foods  to close its processing facility in Berlin, Md., affecting 650 employees and 155 local poultry growers. That event is part of a trend. Delmarva's portion of national poultry production has fallen from about 28 percent of the total in 1950 to below 10 percent in 2002.

The problem is not the manure or the farmer but the process. The banks own  the chicken house, the processors own the chickens and the feed, and the farmer only gets the manure until someone can figure out a way to turn that into cash.  

If this concerns you since it is all about money, pay a little more and buy your chicken from a real farmer. While it may take a little longer, chickens grow out quite well and produce great eggs, eating grasses, forbs and legumes along with worms and insects.

Cheap chickens are not really a bargain and it is my experience as  a farmer you get what you pay for.  

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by: zonly1 @ Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 20:33:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

This comment was great (4.00 / 6)

it should be a standalone diary.  

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by: Curtis Abbey @ Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 20:46:00 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

really solid comment (4.00 / 4)

as Curtis says; "Not a comment; please diary!"

One thing; you say antiobiotics stay active in manure and are taken up by plants and affect people who eat the plants. Can you reference that?


"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 01:12:25 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't know about Maryland (4.00 / 6)

but on the broiler list there was a pretty interesting discussion on composting chicken manure. The growers on the list who were talking about it all composted and then sold the composted manure.

Also, when there is a disease outbreak on one of those farms, all poultry movements and manure movements are halted for 30 days after detection/cleanup. That's for everyone, not just the commercial growers. It's my understanding that all large commercial growers are tested prior to slaughter.

One of the problems I was reading about regarding to the application of manure to crop land, is the time of year when it's applied. Apply at the right time of year, and things go well, as long as you don't over apply. Apply at the wrong time of the year or put too much on, and you get a lot of run off, causing contaminated waterways and a waste of money.

The fellow quoted in the article was right on the over supply situation. Even water'll kill ya if you have too much and it's applied improperly. That's one of the things that worries me about governments looking at manure digesters to power cities. It takes lots and lots of manure, which means more and more CAFOs, and what do you do with all the leftovers???? The stuff makes excellent fertilizer, but as I say, too much of a good thing.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 15:23:47 PM UTC

excellent, excellent point (4.00 / 3)

that promoting technologies that depend on bad farming practices is a dead end ultimately.


"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 01:14:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Frontline did a show on this problem (4.00 / 3)

last week.

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by: OrganicGeorge @ Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 19:47:07 PM UTC

cheap chickens anit-biotics in food (4.00 / 3)

Howdy,

I was just turned onto this site so I am not all that familiar with how it works - not sure what is meant by diary.

We got an email of the lobbying letter from the  Organic White House Garden Puts Some Conventional Panties in a Twist post and I couldn't believe the person who wrote it picked strawberries.

In that letter was the suggestion conventional strawberries
from California are healthy. If you know anything about how commercial strawberries are grown and Methyl bromide you probably would never touch one let alone give them to someone to eat that you cared for.

What I found was the stuff on chickens before I figured out how to navigate there.

anti-biotics in crops

Minnesota  and the USDA research center in Beltsview have done field work on this - from the studies:

"Around 90 percent of these drugs that are administered to animals end up being excreted either as urine or manure," said Holly Dolliver, a member of the Minnesota research team and now a professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. "A vast majority of that manure is then used as an important input for 9.2 million hectares of (U.S.) agricultural land."

Manure, widely used as a substitute for chemical fertilizer, adds nutrients that help plants grow. It is often used in organic farming.

The scientists found that although their crops were only propagated in greenhouses for six weeks--far less than a normal growing season--antibiotics were absorbed readily into their leaves. If grown for a full season, drugs most likely would find their way into parts of plants that humans eat, said Dolliver.

For highly processed plants such as corn, the drugs would most likely be removed, added Dolliver. But many food crops such as spinach and lettuce are not processed, only washed, allowing antibiotics to remain.

"Nobody particularly eats corn or soybean directly," said Satish Gupta, a University of Minnesota professor of soil science and study leader. "But there are crops I am much more worried about, like cabbage and lettuce, because these are leaves we eat directly and consume raw."

One finding that particularly worries food scientists is the accumulation of antibiotics within potato tubers. Tubers are an enlarged, underground stem that uptake and store nutrients from the soil. In crops like potatoes, carrots and radishes, it is the part humans eat.

 "Since these tubers and root crops are in direct contact with the soil they may show a greater propensity for (antibiotic) uptake," said Gupta.

Health officials fear that eating vegetables and meat laced with drugs meant to treat infections can promote resistant strains of bacteria in food and the environment.

John Hopkins University Bloomburg School of Public Health has alot of stuff about the use of anti-biotics in agriculture. It seems the use has created strains of pathogens in human immune to anti-biotics. As a urban hospital their staff is now getting ill from infections that the anti-biotics that were once effective now have no effect on these new super pathogens, sort of like super weeds.

BTW - i'm a grass farmer so I am sort of into how plants eat.

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by: zonly1 @ Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 04:53:00 AM UTC

a diary is a blog post (4.00 / 1)

those who said that were giving you a compliment. If you are logged in, you can see a menu at the top right that says "New Diary" as an option. Click that and you'll be able to write up what you want and then click Preview and Save when you are happy with what you have written. Then others will see your writing much more prominently and they can make comments on it.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 09:07:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Gosh (0.00 / 0)

I really don't know where I come down on this issue. I have read all of the posts, which are very interesting, but still have some concerns. For those of us whose budgets are extremely tight, I have to argue that cheap chicken is worth it. I live in CA though, and I am used to such. I just picked up 10lbs of fryer legs at $.69 per pound. For a family of 4 living on less than $100 per week that is cheap protein I cannot pass up. How should I feel about this? I do not want to hurt the environment, nor feed my family unwholesome foods, yet I keep smacking up against the grocery budget. I would also argue that I am representative of many families out there. There are not very many alternatives.

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by: makettle @ Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 21:25:45 PM UTC