Ch. 3, Slaughterhouse Blues

1. Chicken Little, Chicken Big: The Poultry Industry Ch. 3, Slaughterhouse Blues

2. Poultry Production & Consumption in the Early Twentieth Century • Down on the farm: • Chickens were part of daily life • Mothers raised chickens for eggs & meat • Egg money – an independent source of cash for women • Occasional luxury items • Treats for children • Clothing, groceries • Fried chicken was a treat (work to kill, remove feathers, eviscerate)

3. Production & Consumption • Chickens came to America with the first colonists • Easy to transport, eat anything, reproduce quickly • When old hens no longer laid eggs they were eaten • Tough meat for the family • A byproduct of egg production • Cockerels (young roosters) culled each spring & provided tender meat for sale to the city • Chicken was a delicacy

4. 1914 Restaurant Menu Crabmeat Supreme $ .60 Prime Rib $1.25 Imported Venison $1.50 Broiled Lobster $1.60 Chicken $2.00

5. Birth of the Modern Poultry Industry • Mrs. Steele’s Chicks(Ocean View, Delaware) • Spring 1923 ordered 50 chicks from a hatchery • The hatchery sent her 500 chicks by mistake • She kept them, built a shed, & raised them as broilers • After 18 weeks, 387 surviving chicks weighed 2 lbs. each & sold for 62 cents/lb. ($5 by today’s standards) • They were sold to the northern hotel & restaurant market

6. Mrs. Steele, cont… • The next year she ordered 1000 chicks • By 1926 she was raising 10,000 • Word spread and within 10 years the region was producing 7 million broilers per year • This meant a sharp drop in price growers received • In 1934 farmers were paid 19 cents/lb., 1/3 Mrs. Steele’s 1926 price

7. Chicken Genetics • Chickens mature quickly • 1930s Development of chicks that grow bigger, faster • Improved feed efficiency • 1927 – 2.5 lbs in 16 weeks • 1941 – 2.9 lbs. in 12 weeks • Amount of feed required fell 1/2 lb. per lb. meat

8. Corn is the main ingredient in chicken feed • Pillsbury, Ralston Purina opened feed mills and sold pre-mixed feed • Also funded research on poultry nutrition • Chickens need vitamin D to prevent rickets & ensure bone growth

9. Chicken houses prevent vitamin D absorption from sun, but chicks fatten faster without exercise • Cod liver oil & vitamin D are added to feed • Thousands of chickens are grown in doors, safe from foxes, hawks, etc.

10. War & Chickens • “Armies march on their stomachs” • WW II – chickens mature in a fraction of the time as cattle & hogs • The Delaware region produced 2/3 of the nations broilers • The War Food Administration placed price controls on chickens & channeled production for the armed forces • Production shifted to Georgia, Arkansas, & North Carolina

11. Industrialization of Chicken • 1935 John Tyson bought chickens from Arkansas farmers & hauled them to Kansas City & St. Louis • He bought a hatchery to sell chicks to farmers & supplied chicken feed • 1958 he built a processing plant in Arkansas

12. Arthur Perdue began to raise hens for eggs on his Maryland farm in the 1920s • In the 1940s he began raising broilers • His son Frank in the 1950s signed contracts with farmers to grow broilers • In 1968 he built a feed mill & purchased a chicken processing plant

13. Vertically Integrated Firms • “started in their backyards & built regional & national operations… [managing] production of eggs, hatching chicks, milling feeds, raising, slaughtering, processing, & marketing of the product within a single company” • Combining production, processing, & distribution in the same firm

14. Education & Poultry • University extension agents provided farmers with the latest research findings • Poultry companies funded university research on genetics & nutrition • 1946 A&P joined the USDA, Poultry industry, & university extension to form the National Chicken of Tomorrow Committee to find the ideal broiler • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVnaheWzquE

15. 40 breeders submitted their eggs in a national contest • The winner was the red-feathered Cornish New Hampshire crossbreed • “A breakthrough for American agriculture” The winner Runner Up (Cornish New Hampshire) (White Plymouth Rock) The White Plymouth Rock became the standard because white feathers were easier to see & pluck

16. 1968 Perdue Farms branded its chicken & ran commercials to convince shoppers its chicken was worth paying more for • “It takes a tough man to raise a tender chicken” • Chicken became transformed from a delicacy reserved for Sunday dinner to an everyday, inexpensive meat • Chicken replaced beef on the American dinner table • Annual per capita consumption = 77 lbs. (vs. 68 lbs. beef, 53 lbs. pork)

17. Contract & Factory Farming • 95% of broilers are under contract • Company provides chicks, feed, medications, technical assistance • Farmer provides houses, utilities, labor • Guaranteed payment is tied to feed-conversion ratio • Farmers can no longer market eggs & birds—integrators own the broilers & the eggs

18. Big Chicken Comes to Roost in Kentucky • The broiler belt faced problems of relations with growers, disposal of manure, thus expanded into new areas • Kentucky: low education & income, decline in industry & unemployment, tobacco came under attack, tax incentives, minimal environmental regulation, small plots ideal for poultry

19. 1990 1.5 million broilers • 1998 178 million (154-fold increase) • 2001 231 million Cost = $135,000 - $140,000 each

20. The Sky Is Falling • By the early 2000s a number of broiler houses were standing empty • Energy prices soared in 2001

21. Shawn made $36,000 on his 1st flock • With his 2nd flock, payment for loans on his 1st flock came due • He spent $2,800 for electricity for his 6 houses • And $25,000 to heat the flock • Tyson extended the time between flocks to 20 days • Tyson terminated his contract in 2002, since he had not made $10,000 in improvements required by Tyson • His final payment was $33.22

22. The Sky is Falling, cont… • Since vertical integration of the industry in the 1960s growers have complained about powerlessness • Research on poultry growers in 13 states found that new growers earn $8,160 on average (half the poverty level)—until their loans are paid off (~10-15 years) • Less than half were earning enough to cover costs

23. Misinformation • Companies attracted farmers by describing poultry production as “part-time work for full-time pay” • They informed farmers they could earn $7000-$10,000 per house per year, with 1.5-2 hours work per day • Farmers claim it is a full-time job • The industry depends on its 30,000 growers, but growers are at the mercy of some 50 companies • 4 companies own half of all broilers

24. “Serfs in a Post-modern Feudal System” • Stories of abuse: • “if the company is against you, you’re out of business” • Integrators can send sick birds, short flocks • Can send a short feed supply • Can short-weigh the birds • Can report arrival of dead birds • Can cancel the contract