Hurricane Helen, the Category 4 storm that slammed into the American Southeast over the weekend, killed more than 110 people — and possibly millions of chickens.
About half Among the 9 billion chickens raised for meat in the United States, known as “broiler” chickens, are raised and slaughtered in this region. Georgia is the nation’s top poultry producer, processing 1.3 billion chickens Annual weekend, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to say Reporters said 107 poultry facilities in the state were “damaged or completely destroyed by the storm.”
The Georgia Department of Agriculture did not respond to questions about the exact number of chickens that died during Hurricane Helen. But that poultry company is usually packed from anywhere 20,000 52,000 chickens In each barn, which can be as large as about twice the length of a football field, an estimated 2.14 million to 5.56 million birds are likely to die. (Actual totals may vary slightly, as some birds may have survived the loss, and some barns may have been temporarily empty as companies purged them from the flock for several weeks.)
Some of the largest poultry companies in the country – incl Aviagen, Pilgrim’s Pride And Wayne-Sanderson Farms — Operations at their local facilities have been suspended due to power outages in recent days. A spokeswoman for Clemson University’s agriculture program told Vox it’s a fluid situation and it’s still assessing damage from the hurricane, which killed 45,000 chickens at a South Carolina poultry operation due to generator failure.
Virtually all chickens raised for meat in the United States are confined to these sprawling warehouses, which bear no resemblance to the small barns of America’s agricultural past. These factory farm operations often have at least a few sheds, housing hundreds of thousands of birds in one place at a time. If adequate facilities are compromised during a natural disaster such as Hurricane Helen, millions of animals may die, their final moments possibly horrific and painful.
Their deaths threaten the economic health of farmers and the poultry industry. Georgia’s agriculture commissioner, Tyler Harper, has requested Immediate federal relief for the state’s agriculture sector.
When hurricanes hit factory farms, they can also flush untold amounts of animal manure into groundwater or rivers and streams, exacerbating the challenges governments and their residents face in the wake of severe storms.
Hurricane Helen is the latest — but not the first — striking, high-profile example of how our factory farming system inflicts extreme cruelty on animals and harms human health. There is no reason for the industry to change after such a disaster, as taxpayers cover most of the economic losses incurred by meat companies due to natural disasters.
How taxpayers subsidize the risks of factory farming
This is the first time a hurricane has ripped through the Southeast’s poultry industry. This has happened multiple times in the past quarter century, a period in which the Big Egg has only existed Double down On building more, and bigger, factory farms.
In 1999, Hurricane Floyd submerged much of eastern North Carolina and killed one person. approx 2.4 million chickens, 100,000 pigs and half a million turkeys. North Carolina hog farms store animal waste in giant manure “lagoons” and several overflowing During the Floyd, sending toxic sludge containing bacteria and viruses (including E. coli) into waterways and drinking water, According to At the State Climatic Office.
Poultry factory farms store manure in giant pits or large mounds, which pose the same contamination risk as hog farms.
Hurricane Matthew In 2016 and Hurricane Florence 2018 also wreaked havoc in North Carolina, killing millions of chickens and thousands of pigs, both damaging some manure lagoons, resulting in “Stool Soup” The discharge followed Hurricane Michael the same year destruction Georgia has more than 80 chicken barns with more than 2 million chickens.
Fertilizers can seep into groundwater and contaminate private wells that many rural communities rely on for drinking water, a perennial concern. higher After the big storm.
Despite that history, the poultry and pork industries have done little to mitigate the risks posed by natural disasters by, say, raising fewer animals on their farms or making major changes in how they manage the large amounts of manure their animals produce. Because U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for both the environmental cleanup and the dead chickens and pigs.
When a natural disaster strikes a typical chicken farm, the meat company — which technically owns the chickens, not the farmer — takes over. $3 per adult bird From the US Department of Agriculture, about 75 percent of the bird’s market value. The farmer who supplies the meat to the packer gets only 33 cents per bird.
Many chicken farmers, most of whom raise birds on contract for meat companies, are already toiling under uncertain economic conditions. Hurricanes and other natural disasters can make it worse.
The federal government also pays economic losses from heat waves and other severe weather such as cold snaps and disease outbreaks. Over the past two years, a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu – known as H5N1 – has caused deaths. More than 100 million Poultry birds, and the federal government has been well given $1 billion In the poultry industry, most of this goes to the largest companies.
Livestock production is both a major driver of climate change and, as Hurricane Helen shows, a victim of it. As global warming increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters, policymakers should question the factory farming model. Instead, as a recent federal accounting of the US agricultural system shows, we’re doubling down on it, raising more and more animals on larger and larger farms.
“In addition to all the environmental problems associated with the factory farm model, and the public health problems it creates, at the end of the day the extreme concentration of animals is a fundamental weakness,” said Chris Hunt, deputy director. Non-profit socially responsible agriculture projects. “It’s a vulnerability to unexpected shocks to the system … the fact that poultry is not just concentrated [factory farms]But being geographically concentrated is also problematic, of course.”
