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CBES REPORT:
WHY CARE THAT POULTRY INDUSTRY IS EXPLODING ON THE SHORE?
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Community Impacts of Industrial Poultry Operations Forum
Read about this first for the Shore. A panel of diverse experts examines
public health, environmental, and safety impacts.
On Wednesday, January 20, over 150 people attended a forum on "Community Impacts of Industrial Poultry Operations" sponsored by Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore, CBES.
The intent of the forum was to enrich the conversation in both counties on this critical issue, as both counties are changing their zoning rules in regards to the poultry industry.
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Science weighed in and panelists shared experiences of living near and working in Industrial Poultry. Citizens spoke up too.
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With the possible exception of the future at
Wallops and the aquaculture industry, there is
no activity on the Shore that comes close to the
economic importance of the poultry industry.
Clearly local policies need to be carefully
thought through. There is understandable passion on both sides of this debate.
As the forum discussion made clear, there are no easy answers
The forum was moderated by Peabody Award winner Marc Steiner, a radio broadcaster from Baltimore who has covered this debate in Maryland where the industry is more developed and where strong backlash has led to a number of legislative proposals to regulate the industry. Having Mr. Steiner moderate
also allowed CBES to spread the information across Delmarva and have a record of the forum through the taped broadcast.
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No Complaints, No Oversight
The panel presentations began with two representatives from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) - Roger Everton of Water Compliance and Monitoring, and Neil Zahradka from the Office of Land Applications Programs. They explained how the DEQ approaches confined poultry regulation.
There are three divisions within DEQ - Water, Air, and Land Protection. Up to now, confined poultry has fallen under the water sector. What was clear from the discussion is how challenging it is to regulate an industry when jurisdiction is split between divisions and departments.
For example, a key part of poultry regulation is the Nutrient Management Plans (NMP) that each farm must have as it moves its poultry litter out of containment to a safe field application as a fertilizer. The NMP is regulated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation rather than the DEQ.
Largely the DEQ works with the assumption that all plans are followed and result in minimal risk to the environment. They only interact with the end user where the manure is applied when complaints are received that indicate that the state regulations are not being followed. It appears to be effectively a voluntary program without a more random and intrusive permitting process.
As one chicken grower pointed out, every farm that receives litter is recorded so that he or she has a clear record of where the manure is going. However, that is not public information unless violations or complaints move it into a permitted process at the DEQ
...all three Delmarva states have similar regulatory frameworks, yet the net result is that all areas with intensive poultry operations are really struggling with water quality.
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Further, it seems clear there is no way that
any of this regulatory framework can be
cumulative. While a NMP takes into account
factors like soil type, crops grown, etc... , it
does not take into account what is happening
on adjacent properties and what the
cumulative effect is on the environment. As several speakers pointed out, all three Delmarva states have regulatory frameworks that are similar, yet the net result is that all areas with intensive poultry operations are really struggling with water quality.
Everton explained how the monitoring of water quality happens around the Shore. There is a significant amount of data collected in terms of temperature, salinity, pH, nitrogen, bacterial counts, and turbidity (or suspended solids in the water). Some of the data has been collected for many years giving some good trend data. The health department also does a great deal of water testing in shellfish growing areas that the DEQ also uses.
The process on paper is clear.
The DEQ monitors and determines when water quality is "impaired" for some use such as aquaculture or swimming. If there is an impairment of a normal use of a watershed, a TMDL (total maximum daily load) is developed for the impairment (bacteria, etc...) and an action plan developed to address the issue until the waterway is no longer impaired.
But a quick look at a map of the Eastern Shore showed how futile this effort has been to date. Nearly all creeks on the bayside are marked red as impaired. Bacterial impairment is the most common issue. As Mark Brush, Associate Professor of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science pointed out, the bay water surrounding each watershed is already somewhat impaired.
On the seaside, where the Atlantic is flushing in relatively clean water, the picture is much better and relatively few waterways were listed as impaired
. It serves as a reminder to how interconnected the Chesapeake Bay is and how efforts in other jurisdictions impact local clean-up efforts.
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How Many is Too Many?
Brush presented a brief overview of the state of science on modeling the impact of poultry operations. A TMDL plan only works if the model is accurate enough to direct efforts effectively against the sources of pollution. Brush explained that the models are quite limited in their detail. Their focus to date has been to model each watershed on the seaside from the bottom of the peninsula up into Delaware. They are making progress but it is slow and nitrogen estimates (the primary focus nutrient of Brush's research) are understandably rough, influenced by nitrogen evaporation into the air as well as nitrogen additions from rainfall.
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...disposing of the litter, principally manure, dead birds, and feathers, is the responsibility of the individual farmer... This creates an unresolved regulatory complexity since integrators, like Tyson and Perdue, are not liable for the worst negative impacts of the operations.
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In terms of poultry, there are questions about how much comes off the litter when contained on covered concrete, and then when, where, and how it is dispersed onto fields for fertilizer. However, Brush was clear that his model shows a linear relationship between more poultry operations and increased levels of pollution in the watershed. He was equally clear though, that his data and models are not ready to answer basic questions such as how many poultry houses is the maximum we can support
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Public Health Consequences
The next panelist, Maria Payan, a consultant with Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, told how she became involved with the industry. She lived in Pennsylvania next to a farm that raised a few horses- her little piece of paradise. But the farm was sold and the property became a four-house poultry farm. Then another farm nearby was converted to a confined cattle operation. Then another became a large-scale pig farm. In a relatively short period, her piece of paradise became a nightmare of health issues for her family.
As she put it, with farming at this scale, when something goes wrong, it goes very, very wrong. If avian flu hits, the quantity of birds involved and the impact of their decomposition will create dangerous health issues in a large surrounding area.
She also relayed how close to the limit the states to the north of us have pushed their operations. According to her, 88% of Delaware waters are impaired for swimming from pollution levels and over 90% no longer adequately support aquatic life.
She has become a strong advocate for moving away from industrially scaled farms and working towards diversified, smaller scale operations that provide quality local food and keep their positive economic benefits within local communities.
The next panelist was Dr. Jillian Fry from the John Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her main focus was to raise awareness of the health issues raised by proximity to this type of farming. Potential issues surrounding confined poultry houses include concentrated ammonia, particulates and dust, bacteria, as well as materials used in the care of the birds such as medications and antibiotics.
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A cloud of potentially harmful materials is ejected from each [poultry] house by the fan. Unfortunately, the regulatory framework has no air monitoring and no research to help answer what is a safe distance of the house from surrounding communities.
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She talked about the exposure routes for the migration of hazardous materials and pathogens from the houses into the surrounding community. For example, ventilation fans prevent any of these materials from building up in the house to the detriment of the birds.
That means that a cloud of potentially harmful materials is ejected from each house by the fan. Unfortunately, the regulatory framework has no air monitoring and no research to help answer what is a safe distance of the house from surrounding communities
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Key factors include wind and weather patterns, how well buffers absorb and block contaminated air, as well as whether the community includes high-risk populations (principally the very young and very old, or asthma sufferers).
She also talked about other key exposure routes where we have only limited research to understand. Flies, for example, are common vectors for bacterial contamination in the surrounding community. This is of particular concern since some of these bacteria carry resistance to some antibiotics. Workers at the facilities have elevated levels of health issues from the work conditions. They also bring into the community an exposure from their clothing, hair, and skin. Finally, she pointed out that open-air transport of chickens creates another exposure route that needs research.
Dr. Fry spoke at length about the central regulatory problem of jurisdiction when health issues are a focus. Rarely will a health issue fall into an existing regulatory framework. That means it is hard to get government intervention because the problem frequently falls between jurisdictions with neither department having responsibility for public health effects.
As Dr. Fry put it, we know much more about water quality and are ready to address those issues. We actually know relatively little about health issues raised by industrial poultry operations.
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Perspective from a
Former Poultry Grower
The final panelist was Carole Morrison, a former Perdue grower who has become a bit of a celebrity in the sustainable food movement through her exposure in movies such as Food Inc. She left the Perdue system and now raises pastured laying hens on her farm primarily for Whole Foods. She reviewed her experience with the industrial poultry operations and integrators. She claimed that the economics of the process has degraded from "full time pay for part time work" to simply supplemental income, with expansion funded through cash incentives to put up more houses.
She explained that each house represents a $380,000 investment and the current cash incentive pays about 20% of that cost. However, she claimed that the process is no longer economically viable for smaller growers, who have to continually borrow funds to keep up with industry capital requirements. She quoted a study that showed that 70% of poultry growers in the industry are below the poverty line and painted a picture more akin to sharecropping, where farmers are dependent on the integrator for their survival. Contracts are only by flock and can be cancelled at any time, potentially bankrupting the farmer who has borrowed funds to create a production system tailored to a specific integrator.
In comments from another operator on the Eastern Shore, Morrison's financial experience may not to be completely universal. The system is set up to favor larger and more successful operators and looks to be actively eliminating operators that are at Morrison's scale. Her description, though, highlighted the complexity of the industry. An integrator, such as Tyson or Perdue, controls all inputs of chicks, food, medications, and specifies growing parameters and required equipment. They then provide the sole market outlet to purchase the birds at harvest time. This means that they really control the income of each producer and have negotiating leverage from their scale relative to each grower.
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Apparently, the integrators are enlarging
the scale of operations and increasingly
relying on investors rather than family
farms to make the investments required
at that scale. They need to provide
enough return to their growers to produce the output they need for their sales. The efforts of Virginia to increase export markets for chicken will continue to drive those integrators to increase their grower communities and increase their output. They will need more houses in the future.
The most problematic part of the process - disposing of the litter, principally manure, dead birds, and feathers, is the responsibility of the individual farmer. The site approvals and community relationships are also largely left to the grower to manage. This creates an unresolved regulatory complexity since integrators, like Tyson and Perdue, are not liable for the worst negative impacts of the operations.
Although integrators are increasingly involved in finding solutions to dispose of that output through incineration, pelletizing fertilizers, etc..., nothing yet has been successful. Maryland's legislature is contemplating making the integrator responsible for disposal of litter. At this time though, Virginia has no plan to change that part of the equation for our counties.
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Concern - Frustrations
About half of the forum was devoted to questions and statements from the audience. One speaker worried we might damage the industry- poultry represents the only food processors left on the Shore and our history of prosperity came only when the Eastern Shore was able to have a number of processors adding value to our farm output. Several on the panel and in the audience pointed out how different Perdue and Tyson are from the old Webster tomato facility in terms of community impact and creating local prosperity. Many of the questions reflected the frustrations with the regulatory framework and the science that supports it.
Several questioners pointed out the gaps in the science where no one can give us guidance on how many chicken houses is "too" many or even how far from homes or communities is a "safe" distance.Clearly, the DEQ approach of relying on NMPs with no permits for land application to document safe disposal made a lot of the audience uncomfortable. Other comments indicated the need to think more about cumulative impact as the number of operations continues to grow.
Maryland
spends $5 million annually on manure transport and the federal government provides significant subsidies for manure management. Some wondered if those resources could be better spent elsewhere. There was some question of water use by the industry. The industry claimed in the first forum, sponsored by Virginia Eastern Shorekeeper, that water use in a confinement house was minimal-but confirmation of water usage for both bird hydration, poultry house misting, and other uses should be verified.
The session ended with one questioner's plea that we work to build a more sustainable local food system. In other words, we know the problems now with industrial poultry but where is the discussion of how we can create solutions by building local, diversified opportunities in agriculture on the Shore?
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Given how little direction science and regulatory process can give our Board of Supervisors, it is critical that the community speak up for their interest. In Accomack as Shorekeeper pointed out, without public input the Industry will be effectively writing their own regulations.
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Spencer Murray, Chairman of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors, gave closing comments from his county's perspective. He reiterated that the only local tool to regulate this industry is zoning and that Northampton is indeed adding setbacks for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, CAFOs. "We will protect our tidal streams," said Murray. "We will have clean water; we will not ruin our aquaculture."
The Eastern Shore Shorekeeper, Jay Ford, gave a brief update on the status of Accomack's efforts to rewrite their zoning regulations related to the chicken industry. The next public hearing on the new zoning regulations for Accomack is on February 3. Given how little direction science and regulatory process can give our Board of Supervisors, it is critical that the community speak up for their interests. As Ford pointed out, the integrators have already provided regulatory
language as the
proposed zoning largely reflects the industry's "good neighbor" practices. As Ford put it, citizens need to let the Accomack board know their thoughts or the industry will be effectively writing their own regulations without input from the rest of the community.
The "Community Impacts of Industrial Poultry Operations Forum" will soon be broadcast on the Marc Steiner Show website http://www.steinershow.org A link to listen to the podcast will be on CBES website www.cbes.org as soon as it is available. Our hope is to continue this conversation with another forum focused on potential policy options.
CBES would like to thank Broadwater Academy for making their facility available to the community. Also thanks to the Marc Steiner Show and to our forum panel who generously shared their time and expertise to help further this debate. Finally, we would thank our dedicated CBES forum volunteers who spent months to bring this critical information to the Eastern Shore. The forum was funded in part by David Kabler and concerned citizens.
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Febuary 3, Wed., 6PM
ACCOMACK PUBLIC HEARING on Industrial Poultry Regulations
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January 25, Mon., 5PM
NORTHAMPTON Work Session
Board to determine Calendar for Draft Zoning Adoption. Also examining CAFOs & AFO(Animal Feeding Operations) as relates to zoning.
Next regular BOS Meeting: Feb. 9, Tues., 7PM
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Hecate Energy LLC is having a public information session on the proposed Cherrydale Solar project to be located in Northampton County.
January 27 at 7:00 p.m. at Northampton High School,
16041 Courthouse Rd, Eastville, VA.
The proposed solar project will be located in central Northampton County: east of RT 13, just west of Seaside Road, approximately 2 miles northeast of Eastville. The project is currently going through the Special Use Permit application process with the Northampton County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
Cherrydale Solar Project will have a nameplate capacity of 20-megawatts (MW) alternating current (AC). The project will utilize traditional polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) solar modules placed on single axis trackers, which will rotate throughout the day to track the sun. Solar PV panel height will likely not exceed 8 feet above grade. Size of the Project location will be approximately 185 acres.
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CITIZENS FOR A BETTER EASTERN SHORE
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