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May 24th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
The number of chickens produced annually in the United States has
increased by more than 1,400 percent since 1950 while the number of
farms producing those birds has dropped by 98 percent. ~ Video
So says a new report, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The impacts of chicken meat factory farming in the State of Georgia, authored by a collection of organizations led by Georgians for Pastured Poultry (GPP).
The report provides a history of CAFOs and their impact on animal
welfare, the environment, human health, and workers and producers. It
also looks at laws that discriminate against pastured poultry, and
offers healthy and more humane alternatives to factory farming in
poultry operations.
In addition, GPP provided a 20-minute video:
Though focused on Georgia, much of the information is easily applicable
to poultry operations anywhere. Highlights from the 72-page report
follow. (Direct quotes comprise most of the following summary, with some
paraphrasing):
The state of Georgia is the largest producer of meat chickens (broilers)
in the country and nearly all of the broilers are raised in
densely-packed, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The state
raises and slaughters 1.4 billion meat chickens every year, in a country
that confines and slaughters 9.2 billion farms animals annually in
factory farms.
The poultry industry makes up the largest segment of the state’s
agriculture, with an overall annual economic impact for the state of $13
billion or more. The broiler business alone in Georgia is valued at
over $3 billion annually. Based in Georgia, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation
is the world’s largest poultry company, and, like all factory farms, is
vertically integrated.
Animal Welfare
Broiler chickens are bred to grow larger and faster. Over the last 50
years, growth rates have quadrupled in the pursuit of cheaper chicken.
The major welfare concerns for broilers are leg problems, contact
dermatitis, especially footpad dermatitis, ascites (accumulation of
fluid in the peritoneal cavity usually caused by heart problems and
liver disease), and sudden death syndrome. These concerns have been
exacerbated by genetic selection for fast growth and increased feed
conversion.
Each chicken in a Georgia CAFO has just one piece of 8.5×11 inch paper
(about 93 square inches) of floor space by the time it reaches slaughter
weight. Being forced to stand in their own excrement causes ammonia
burns such as breast blisters, hock burns and footpad dermatitis.
The lack of space also prevents exercise and full development of their
legs, which are already stressed by the weight of their fast growing
breasts. Most birds simple splay their legs and pant, because their
lungs are also unable to handle the weight of their breasts.
Environment Human Health
Food-animal operations in the U.S. produce 133 million tons of manure
per year. Georgia’s industrial poultry operations generate 2 million
tons of poultry litter annually, about 20 percent of the US total.
In poultry farming, litter is applied to the land as a source of
nutrients. The application of litter to fields was once a sustainable
and acceptable practice. However, the drastic increase in the number of
poultry raised for human consumption has produced far more litter than
the land can support, potentially resulting in discharges of excessive
nutrients, veterinary pharmaceuticals, pathogens, heavy metals and
metalloids into the ground and surface waters. Treatment of this animal
waste prior to agricultural application is currently not required.
Arsenic-based drug use for chickens is banned for human health concerns
in the 27 countries of the European Union, but not in the U.S. Arsenic, a
recognized human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency and
the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is found in chicken
manure.
The U.S. Geological Survey has calculated that between 250,000 and
350,000 kg of arsenic is applied annually to the land. Elevated soil
arsenic levels have been reported in a number of fields where poultry
waste was applied; arsenic in soil is readily leachable and may migrate
into the water supply. Exposure to arsenic has been associated with an
increased risk of a number of human health effects, including heart
disease, diabetes, neurologic effects, and birth defects.
People living within a 500-meter radius of a CAFO experience
significantly more self-reported wheezing and had decreased forced
expiratory volume in one second, an indicator of lung inflammation.
The EPA has identified ammonia and particulate matter as the most hazardous air pollutants emitted from poultry CAFOs.
The massive use of antibiotics in food animals may be the biggest cause of antibiotic resistance in humans.
Workers
In Georgia, because of the state’s lack of anti-retaliation protections,
a worker who reports a work-related injury in order to seek workers’
compensation benefits like medical treatment and partial pay for time
when she is unable to work may lawfully be fired for filing or pursuing a
workers’ compensation claim.
According to Fortune Magazine, “[OSHA] statistics for 2000 reveal that
one out of every seven poultry workers was injured on the job, more than
double the average for all private industries. Poultry workers are also
14 times more likely to suffer debilitating injuries stemming from
repetitive trauma.”
Violations of even the few health and safety protections that exist for
workers in processing plants are common. Over a 5 year period, OSHA
offices in Georgia conducted 37 inspections of poultry slaughtering and
processing plants, finding 185 violations of federal health and safety
regulations, including 136 violations designated as serious, 6
designated as willful, and 26 that were repeat violations.
All categories of poultry workers who handle live birds are exposed to
poultry skin debris, aerosolized feed, dust particles, broken feather
barbules, excreta, insect parts, and ammonia, resulting in a variety of
pulmonary disorders including farmer’s lung, hypersensitivity
pneumonitis, air-conditioner lung, maple bark disease, and bird
breeder’s lung.
Occupational exposure to antibiotic resistant microbes exposes not only
the workers, but also the rest of the community to drug-resistant
bacteria.
Growers
The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 was enacted to ensure a fair
market for poultry/livestock that is protected from monopolies and
discriminatory practices. Administered by the USDA’s Grain Inspection,
Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), regulators have
nonetheless allowed market consolidation.
The limited number of packers allows them to opportunistically
manipulate cash market prices, reducing grower income so much so that Ag
Secretary Tom Vilsack observed that only 9% of family farm income comes
from farming operations, “which means that 91% had to come from some
other place.”
Though the 2008 Farm Bill required the USDA to enforce the GIPSA rules, Vilsack has ignored it.
Independent growers operating outside the CAFO system are limited by a
lack of infrastructure. The demise of the independent slaughterhouse is
yet another negative consequence of vertical integration in the poultry.
Georgia currently has only one independent slaughtering facility for
pasture-raised poultry. Most independent growers must transport their
birds for hundreds of miles to independent facilities in North Carolina,
South Carolina and Kentucky. As a result, many farmers have expressed
interest in on-farm processing.
On-farm processing is currently a complicated matter due to legal issues
surrounding inspection. A confusing intersection of federal and state
laws pertaining to poultry processing and inspection has made it
difficult, though not impossible, for Georgia’s independent farmers to
legally process their chickens on-farm.
In cooperation with officials at the Georgia Ag Dept.,
Georgia Organics
is advocating for a framework allowing on-farm processing, and
direct-to-consumer sales, in a manner that is economical for farmers
while ensuring food safety. At the same time, Georgia Organics is
spearheading an effort to study the feasibility of mobile processing
units and a potential fixed-site facility that would provide independent
growers with a legal and viable processing option. Developing
processing solutions would readily deliver more pasture-raised poultry
to market.
Alternatives to CAFOs
Consumer and restaurateur demand for local, sustainably-produced food
continues to grow despite the poor economy. As evidence continues to
surface from the medical community and public health advocates linking
pesticides, chemicals and antibiotics used to grow food with cancer,
consumers are looking to minimize their exposure to harmful
environmental toxins, and are increasingly looking to connect with the
farmers growing their food.
Since 2005, Georgia has seen a 600% increase in farmers markets. Organic
food sales have grown at a similar clip, with an average annual growth
rate of 19% from 1997-2008.
Over 50 pasture poultry farmers in Georgia, including White Oak
Pastures, strive to meet this demand. One of the reasons White Oak
Pastures added pastured chicken to its production is to further embrace
the Serengeti Plains rotational grazing model. Under this model, large
ruminants (cows) are followed by small ruminants (sheep), who are then
followed by birds (chickens and turkeys). In the process, pastures are
grazed and fertilized in three different ways.
Pasture-based production works with nature. Birds are raised with an
all-natural diet, are not administered antibiotics or altered physically
to survive the unnatural housing conditions of a CAFO, and are often
processed on or near the farm where they are raised. Medium to slow
growing breeds are used. Birds are raised up to 12 weeks of age, twice
the length of time needed for CAFO birds.
Environmental enrichment, a term that includes perches, raised
platforms, pecking objects, bales of straw and wood shavings, are
beneficial to chickens and can lead to reduced aggression and improved
leg health. Alternative systems should be supported where chickens are
of a slower growing breed and are given access to pasture and
environmental enrichment so that they are able to perform natural
behaviors, such as wing flapping, dust bathing, preening and pecking,
with ease.
The
Global Animal Partnership 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Program®
is particularly exceptional. Step 1 prohibits cages and crates; Step 2
requires environmental enrichment for indoor production systems; Step 3
requires outdoor access; Step 4, pasture-based production; step 5, an
animal-centered approach with all physical alterations prohibited; and,
finally, under step Five+, the entire life of the animal must be spent
on an integrated farm.
For poultry, White Oak Pastures is one of only two farms in the nation
to receive the Step Five certification. As the largest private employer
in Early County, Georgia, the White Oak Pastures business model shows
that pastured production methods can be commercially successful
alternatives to industrial feedlots. Harris also owns the largest solar
barn in the Southeast, which allows him to save 30 percent of the energy
costs for running his farm.
Download the full report.
Rady Ananda – May 23, 2012 – ActivistPost
Georgians for Pastured Poultry is a working group consisting of the
following organizations: Compassion in World Farming; Chef Shaun Doty;
Darby Farms; Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans and Chefs; Georgia
Organics; GreenLaw; Sierra Club; and White Oak Pastures. Whole Foods
Market® South Region contributed as a Special Advisor.
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