IMPACTS OF THE POULTRY INDUSTRY FOR THE DELMARVA REGION by Paul Nalewajko

1. 1  IMPACTS OF THE POULTRY INDUSTRY FOR THE DELMARVA REGION by Paul Nalewajko

2. 2 Urbs/Geog 515: Race, Poverty, and the EnvironmentProfessor Raquel Pinderhughes, Urban Studies & Environmental Studies ProgramsSan Francisco State UniversitySpring 2004 Public has the permission to use the materials herein, but only if author(s), course, university, and professor are credited.

3. 3 Objectives: To Provide an Introduction to the Poultry Industry and the Delmarva Region. To Account for the Economic Contributions and Impacts for the Delmarva Region and the Community To Describe The Poultry Industry Community and Labor Force. Explain the Socio-Economic Inequalities and Struggles for the Community and Labor Force. To Describe the Industry’s Environmental Injustice Towards the Community and Consequent Struggles. To Illustrate the Harmful Public Health Impacts by the Poultry Industry upon the Community and Consequent Struggles. To Provide Recommendations to Improve the Quality of Poultry Industry Conditions.

4. 4 During lectures throughout the semester I have perceived and comprehended the nature of the environment, environmental issues, and social movements regarding the totality of surrounding conditions. Tools of analysis will be used to understand the cradle to grave industry effects. I will be investigating the poultry industry impacts for the Delmarva Region which is an the area of the Chesapeake Bay comprised of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware, and the Virginia borders. Poultry is one of the major success stories in U.S. agriculture, largely due to consumer preferences for diet and health reasons. Of all the livestock sectors, it has achieved the greatest increase in production efficiency, whether measured in terms of cost, feed efficiency, or output per worker. Translated to consumers, the real cost of poultry products has decreased more than any other livestock product. The result is that poultry is the only livestock sector that has achieved a growing market share as well as increasing per capita consumption over the last three decades. Indeed, during the early 1990s, consumption of chicken surpassed that of beef, making it the most consumed meat in the United States. In addition, the U.S. poultry industry is highly competitive as the world’s largest producer and exporter of poultry meat. In 2001, U.S. poultry meat production totaled 50 billion pounds, with a farm gate value of $24.6 billion – the third largest sector in agriculture.

5. 5 The most economically significant part of the poultry industry is the raising of broiler chickens for meat. The birth of the modern broiler industry took place on the Delmarva Peninsula in the early 1920s. During the 1920s and 1930s, Delmarva south of Wilmington was an economically depressed region. Broilers provided a desperately needed cash crop that was increasingly in demand in the urban markets of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. By the mid-1930s, two out of every three broilers in the U.S. were raised in Delmarva. The growth of Delmarva broiler production stimulated the expansion of local hatcheries, breeding operations, and feed companies, and eventually local processors A large increase in the production of commercial broilers continued during the latter half of the twentieth century, but with the most significant gains in other growing regions. Delmarva is now ranked as the sixth-largest chicken producing area in the nation. For the year of 2002, 2,500 local farm families produced 587 million chickens. The chickens are processed and prepared for market in 12 processing plants owned by four of the nation’s top poultry companies.

6. 6 ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION AND IMPACTS Gross regional product, like its national counterpart, is the most widely used measure of an area’s economic activity. In 2001, gross regional product in Delmarva was estimated at $19.18 billion, or about 3.9 percent of the combined Delaware-Maryland-Virginia gross state product of $497.6 billion. Personal income – composed of wages, salaries, proprietors’ income, and other labor income earned by job-holders working in the Delmarva region – was valued at $18.4 billion in 2001. Employment, including full- and part-time wage and salary employees and self-employed workers, totaled 395,610 in Delmarva, or about 4.9 percent of the combined three-state total, in 2001.

7. 7 The broiler industry is a key component of the Delmarva economy not only because of its own sales volume but also through its effects in related industries. Most closely related economically to broiler processing is Delmarva farming. Poultry is by far Delmarva’s leading agricultural product, accounting for almost two-thirds of farm output value. Residents by the thousands are employed by the plants, the peninsula’s 15 hatcheries, 10 feed mills, or in industry related jobs. There has been a study by poultry professionals that the industry creates 7.2 jobs elsewhere. The crucial dependence of Delmarva farming on the broiler industry is shown more starkly in the case of the most broiler-intensive counties on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland along with Kent and Sussex Counties in Delaware and Accomack in Virginia. In those counties three-fourths the value of farm production is generated by poultry and most of the rest by crops fed to poultry. Poultry and grain together accounted for 88 to 96 percent of the value of farm output in Maryland’s four lower Eastern Shore counties in 1997.

8. 8 In the progress of research I discovered overwhelming and harmful evidence caused by the industry processes. The elite of the poultry industry companies is the only group that benefits, they are reaping the positive factors of the business like high profits and working in comfortable office environments. Hence, The negative impacts consequently affect the low-income people, people of color and their communities in regards to social and economic disproportion. Additionally, the people of the industry and surrounding communities are adversely affected in regards to environmental and health issues. Please review the research, familiarize yourself with the community, and note the devastating impacts that harm many and protect a few.

9. 9 THE POULTY INDUSTRY COMMUNITY AND LABOR FORCE A profile of the lower wage earners for the poultry industry estimates that African-Americans make up the majority of poultry workers. However, for the Delmarva region there is a high concentration of Mexican immigrants becoming involved. Additionally, Latinos are mentioned to be 40% of the workforce at Perdue chicken farms. Women comprise about 50% of the workforce.

10. 10 The Delmarva peninsula has changed over time and experienced a shift from White American poultry workers by African-Americans, in turn, have been partially replaced by Latino immigrant workers. Indeed, industry management often prefers Latino workers because they are willing to work very hard without complaint. Bill Saterfield, Delmarva’s Poultry Industry’s Executive Director states “Latinos are appreciated of all the workers, especially the Hispanics. Their willingness and enthusiasm is better than others.”

11. 11 SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALTIES  FOR COMMUNITY AND LABOR FORCE Class lectures led to the discussion of the “precautionary principle”, a factor that proves the industry’s ability to realize the processes and their impacts. However, in the course of research, the evidence found leads us to believe the poultry industry lacks the precautionary principle. Findings revealed allegations ranging from health and safety issues to potential violations of labor laws. Whole service providers who work closely with poultry workers are aware of and willing to speak about problems experienced in poultry processing plants. Many poultry workers were reluctant to complain about work-related problems, out of a stated fear of job loss or other forms of employer retaliation.(The Public Justice Center, 1999).

12. 12 An investigation that was conducted by The Department of Labor found that 60% of poultry companies cheat workers out of failing to comply with the overtime and record keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, included are the poultry industry based in the Delmarva region. The violations found by the DOL included failure to pay for all hours and unlawful deductions from pay. For example, the DOL reported that: Over 60% of plants failed to pay overtime to chicken crews for hours worked over 40.51% of plants failed to pay for time spent in job-related pre- and post-liminary tasks (such as donning and doffing safety equipment).Over 30% of plants failed to pay for brief breaks taken during the work day.54% of plants charged employees for required clothing and protective equipment.

13. 13 At Chestertown Foods, a poultry processing plant, six undocumented workers under the age of 16 were arrested during an INS raid in March 1999. Suffering of poultry workers within the companies located in the Delmarva region has increased as company profits have grown. The poultry industry has taken advantage of the non-immigrant status of workers.

14. 14 Despite the overvalued appreciation for minority workers by the industry, there has been little growth in the hourly wages of poultry workers, who earned little more than $7 hour in 1995, which is 60% less than average for manufacturing workers. A tremendous gap between the growth in the industry’s productivity and the growth in hourly wages. While the value of production between 1985 and 1995 doubled, average hourly earnings rose less than half the growth in the value of production, and the real average hourly earnings for poultry workers have actually dropped since 1995 from $5.92/hour to $5.73/hour in 1995.(The Public Justice Center, 1995).

15. 15 For example, “Under a typical growing contract, the grower must provide the land, buildings, equipment, utilities and labor in raising the chickens until ready for slaughter. The company controls of the inputs that determine the ultimate profit of the grower, including chickens, feed and medication. Although the company retains ownership of the chickens at all times, the grower incurs all responsibility for the disposal of chicken manure and dead chickens.” –“The contract is good for only one flock of chickens (6-10 weeks), and may be changes at any time at the whim of the company. After making large capital investments of about $250,000 or more in poultry houses and other equipment, growers have no choice but to sign the contracts and comply with the company’s demands.” (Eisenberg, 1998).

16. 16 The National Contract Poultry Growers Association conducted studies and revealed that while poultry companies enjoy a 0% to 30% return on their investment, the most poultry farmers can hope for is a 1% to 3% return, despite the fact that the growers invest over 50% of the capital needed to grow the chickens. According to studies by The National Contract Growers Institute, poultry growers earn well below minimum wage and over 71.6% of poultry farmers have incomes below poverty level from their poultry operations and qualify for food stamps. (Eisenberg, 1998).

17. 17 Investigations and the application of labor laws seemed to prevail for the following suit. Chicken catchers won back pay-Poultry giant Perdue Farms agreed to pay on May 10, 2003 for $2.4 million dollars to settle a federal law suit charging federal Fair labor Standard Act and Maryland wage law violations, brought on behalf of 100 chicken catchers. Perdue will pay $1.7 million in back overtime to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 members who catch birds at Perdue plants in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. (American Federation of Labor, 2003).

18. 18 The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division assessed poultry-processing concern Chestertown Foods Inc. a penalty of $14,100 for 24 child labor violations, including the use of children to debone chicken. The New Jersey company, which has a plant Maryland. since has terminated the minors and said it would comply with labor laws.

19. 19 We are aware that there is minor retribution for ignorance towards workers. However, more improvements must be implemented for the underserved communities. The poultry industry lacks representation for the vulnerable workers. Fewer than 1/3 of poultry workers are represented by a union. There is a high rate of turnover because of awful working conditions and high rate injury. Rather than offering high wages for the high work demand, the industry are planning contractual schemes, Foreign Labor Contractors, and Welfare-to-Work programs to lower their costs. The profits go right into the corporate elite’s pockets, the big companies lower their costs and increase their profits and import a steady stream of workers willing to that are blindly willing to endure the abusive conditions.

20. 20 We are aware that the negligence factor is present because top industry professionals had prior knowledge to the actions that were unfolding. Hence, the events could have been preventable and there is lack of responsibility on the industry’s behalf. Hopefully organized labor organizations, such as the UFCW, will gain more exposure, represent, and protect more workers.

21. 21 ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE TOWARDS  THE LABOR FORCE

22. 22 The work environment is inhumane in every aspect. The employment of large numbers of low-skill, low-wage workers at all stages of production is because poultry processing is not fully automated. Consequently, the working conditions are appalling and a threat to the health of workers For example, ”When chickens arrive at poultry plant, live hangers shackle the birds by their legs upside down, at 25 or more birds per minute, while the chickens scratch, peck and defecate all over them.

23. 23 ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE TOWARDS THE COMMUNITY Overwhelming amounts of pollution is affecting the land, water, and surrounding communities of the Delmarva region. The pollution renders harmful effects to the environment which are caused by the poultry industry.

24. 24 The pollution is largely due to the overcrowding by CFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). The top poultry companies such as Purdue, Tyson, and many others are commonly using CFO’s, which are used so that chickens may grow under confined conditions. Mass amounts of chickens are crowded into one facility located on just a few acres.

25. 25 CAFO’s produce massive amounts of waste, including manure, urine, excess feed, and dead animals, which must be disposed of daily. This commonly is done by storing the waste in lagoons and holding facilities that frequently overflow as a result of exceeding the holding capacity or because of excessive rainfall. During these events, this untreated waste flows into nearby streams, wetlands, or watersheds. This waste also is spread on the nearby fields bordering the waters of the Chesapeake Bay as fertilizer, which runs off into the nearby waterways as nonpoint-source pollution.”(Henry, 2003)

26. 26 Manure containing dietary antibiotics from approximately 82 million chickens is used to fertilize the fields in the Pocomoke River Basin. The Pocomoke River Basin is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, in the Delmarva Peninsula of Maryland. Runoff from the agriculture fields on which the manure is applied affects the ecology of the Pocomoke River. The altered ecology has been suggested as a contributor to outbreak of toxic microorganisms, Pfisteria picida, resulting in large fish kills and human health problems. Studies have been conducted by The U.S Geological Survey that resulted in evidence of overwhelming levels of microbial populations in the river bed sediment of the Pocomoke.(Henry, 2003)

27. 27 The seepage in the water adds to poorer water quality that is a breeding ground for infectious disease in the environment, one of which is Pfiesteria Pisceda, a toxic dinoflagellate that has been associated with fish lesions and mass amounts of fish kills in the Bay area. (Wright, 2000)

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29. 29 There is an overwhelming amount of methane gas emission from the chicken manure in the poultry industry for the region and it contributes to global warming, it is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The Chesapeake Bay on the mid-Atlantic coast is rising twice as fast as the global average rate of sea level rise. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2003). The changes in store are the loss of marshes, beaches, and islands are the impacts of global warming in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Other changes also are possible including warmer temperatures, increases in precipitation and more damaging floods from coastal storms, lower water quality.

30. 30 Environmental justice does prevail, however in small doses. For example, Hudson Foods, Inc. agreed to pay $4 million I federal fines and $2 million to curb chicken water runoff in Maryland’s waterways, the largest water pollution settlement in state history”-“ The agreement may shift much of the financial cost of pollution control from chicken farmers to the large scale processors on Delmarva Peninsula. Many officials believe that processor liability is necessary in order to limit further outbreaks of the microbe Pfisteria picicida. The company Hudson Foods is now owned by Tyson Foods, Inc. (Valentine, 1998)

31. 31 PUBLIC HEATH IMPACTS FOR THE LABOR FORCE

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34. 34 PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACTS FOR THE COMMUNITY AND CONSEQUENT STRUGGLES The evidence of Pfiesteria Pisceda, a toxic dinoflagellate that has been associated with fish lesions and mass amounts of fish kills in the Bay area has been suggested to effect human health that was proven in laboratory studies. Humans expose to Pfisteria suffered from memory loss, confusion, and a variety of other health symptoms including respiratory, skin, and gastro-intestinal problems. (Wright, 2000)

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36. 36  Arsenic is approved for use in animal feed! The United States of Agriculture reports that young chickens contain 3 to 4 times more arsenic than other meat. The harmful substance is ingested by the consumers of the community! (PETA,2003)

37. 37 CONCLUSION We are fully aware of the devastating implications by the poultry industry affecting race, poverty, and the environment of the urbanized Delmarva Region. Please consider a cost-benefit analysis and realize that even though the industry may seem to be beneficial by increasing profits, jobs, efficiency of production, yield of chickens, and impressing consumers with low prices, there are costs. The costs are the negative impacts upon the social, economic, and environmental conditions of the labor force and community involved in and surrounded by the poultry industry. Further change is desperately needed in order to preserve and protect the vulnerable and underserved communities. Please review the following recommendations.

38. 38 RECOMMENDATIONS:

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40. 40 RECOMMENDATIONS:

41. 41 References/ Bibliography: The American Federation of Labor, Work in Progress, Washington D.C., May 2003. The Australia Visa, The Changing Face of Delmarva, www.migrationint.com.au/ruralnews/greenland/jul 1997-15rmn.asp, Western Australia, July 1997. Delaware Energy Task Force, Overview of Renewable Energy Resources in Delaware, Applied Energy Group, Inc., Wilmington, DE, October 2002. Eisenberg, Thompson Deborah, The Lord in the Kingdom of Big Chicken: Contracting and Workers Exploitation by the Poultry Industry, Public Justice Center, April 1998. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Change, Wildlife, and Wildlands, http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/UniqueKeyLookup/SHSU5BPPVT/$File?CS_.pdf, June 2003. FoodHACCP.com, Poultry feed eyed as root of illnesses, www.washtimes.com/metro/200330225-89473220.htm. Salisbury, MD, February 2003. Henry, Mary G., Keynote Session: Perspectives on the Research Needs of Animal Feeding Operations, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, May 2003. Lewis, Jim, the Church up to Its Ears in Chicken, www.episcoveg.weblogger.com/stories/storyReader$43, February 2003.

42. 42 References/ Bibliography: Linder, Marc, Playing Chicken with People: The Occupational Safety and Health Consequences Throughput Uber Alles, International Journal of Health Services, April, 1995. Mcnelly, Jim, Poultry’s Price: The Cost to the Bay, The Washington Post, August 1, 1999. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA), Chickens and Egg Farming: Abusive Industries, Norfolk, VA, January 2003. The Public Justice Center, The Disposable Workforce: A Worker’s Perspective, Washington D.C., June 1992. Rhodes, Marla, Chicken Processing in Delmarva, Tufts University, Mass., November, 29, 1999. Ruckelhaus, Catherine and Goldstein, Bruce, From Orchards to the Internet: Confronting Contingent Work Abuse, National Employment Law Project, New York, NY, February 2002. United Poultry Concerns, Intensive Poultry Production: Fouling the Environment, Machinpongo, VA, March 1998. Valentine, Paul, Poultry Processor Pays $6 Million in Water Pollution Settlement, Washington Post, May 9, 1998 Wright, Andrew, A Foul Mess, Biogas Works, Washington D.C., May 2000.

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44. 44 Acknowledgements Thank-you to the 2004 Spring Class of Race, Poverty, and the Environment for providing inspiration and support to complete the research.