Carole Morison spent 23 years of her life as a chicken farmer when the company she held a contract with gave her a choice: Make $150,000 in upgrades to her two chickenhouses or have her contract terminated.Morison chose not to make the upgrades.
"The cost was, No. 1, we would have never seen a return on that investment," she said. "No. 2, in our opinion, it wouldn't have been in the best interest of the chickens."
The proposed upgrades would have required her to completely enclose the houses, leaving the only air exchange up to fans and tripling her electricity usage.
To address practices like this nationwide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspectors, Packers and Stockyards Administration has proposed a set of rules, as required by the 2008 Farm Bill, to protect poultry farmers from unfair, fraudulent or retaliatory practices.
The bill, among other things, addresses the lack of information poultry dealers provide on pricing and contract terms by requiring companies to post sample contracts on GIPSA's website allowing producers to be more aware of what a typical contract looks like and what type of deal they are getting.
"Concerns about a lack of fairness and commonsense treatment for livestock and poultry producers have gone unaddressed far too long," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "The proposed rule will help ensure a level playing field for producers by providing additional protections against unfair practices."
Changes should include addressing discrepancies in the tournament pricing system, requiring poultry companies to give additional written notice 90 days before they stop delivery of birds time to recoup up to 80 percent of their investment.
The reform is partly in response to a decrease in the number of buyers with whom producers can conduct business and consolidation in the poultry market, which increases the possibility packers, dealers and swine contractors may engage in unfair practices. For example, a producer should be able to speak freely against something they have seen as wrongful treatment without being retaliated against or having their contract terminated.
However, the National Chicken Council, which represents companies like Perdue Farms Inc. and Tyson, says the regulation appears to be "one-sided, unrealistic and not in accordance with court rulings."They stated the proposed regulation is not in the best interest of poultry producers, companies or consumers and went on to dispute the USDA's estimate of the average grower making 34 cents per bird when the processing company makes $3.23, stating the figure is a wholesale value and not the profit.
Although Morison said it's too late for the regulations to help her, she hopes they will be able to help other poultry farmers make wise business decisions.
The rules remove ambiguity from the existing regulation, making what practices are acceptable and what practices are not clearer to packers, swine contractors and live poultry dealers.
"I see it leveling the playing field," Morison said. "Growers will have more security that they don't have now, especially when they make their investments."
The proposed rules are open for the public to comment on until Aug. 23 and include:
VIA: DelmarvaNow.com
Not too many of the growers are happy about the unfair practices of the companies, but are afraid to speak up knowing their contacts will be terminated and mortgaged chicken houses would be sitting vacant.
ReplyDeleteHere on Delmarva there is no other option for growers than to be under contract with major companies. The public and the politicians need to get off the idea that the chicken farms are "small family farms." Chicken farmers on Delmarva have zero control over their farms.
Did anyone go out and lasso these people and force them to get into the poultry business? Did anyone force the Morisons to purchase a poultry farm? They made a bad business decision and now they want someone else to pay for their incompetence? They knew what they were getting into but chose to look just at the best case scenario instead of what was likely to happen. No sympathy from me. I've been growing chickens since 1969 and have done quite well, thank you, but have tried to institute best management practices and kept up with technology, unlike the Morisons who just skimmed all the money off the top not realizing that some of it had to be reinvested to stay viable.
ReplyDeleteThe chickens raised by the growers under contract with the big companies aren't fit to eat. These hugh chicken breasts Perdue sells are unnatural and not fit for even a dog to eat! Whatever they are feeding these chickens needs to be investigated.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand the way the brands like Perdue and Tysons are swimming in some kind of liquid after being baked. There are pumped up with something probably so they weigh more.
ReplyDeleteWe like to ride up to Sam Yoder's Farm in DE to buy only the best meat and poultry. It's not laced with all that junk. that's true the other stuff isn't fit for dogfood!