Pew report on “Big Chicken” ignites big backlash

A critical report on America’s poultry industry by the nonprofit advocacy group, The Pew Charitable Trusts, has drawn an equally strong rebuttal from chicken producers.

The Washington-based Pew Environment Group’s report, “Big Chicken: Pollution and Industrial Poultry Production in America,” calls for limits on the density of animal production, “especially in areas without alternatives to managing the animal waste.” The report says the Chesapeake Bay is infused with excess nutrients generated by broiler litter from the adjacent Delmarva Peninsula.

“The environmental consequences of the broiler business’ explosive growth are especially profound in the Chesapeake Bay, one of the nation’s most important, scenic and threatened bodies of water,” Robert Martin of Pew Environment Group said. “Instead of working to limit the effects of all this chicken waste, the industry has fought to avoid responsibility for cleaning up one of our national treasures.”

A statement by Georgetown-based, Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., called the report’s criticisms misplaced. “The fact that Pew seems to be unaware of the scope of environmental progress underway in the poultry community on the Delmarva Peninsula is evidence that this report is little more than a cheap shot at a responsible business.”

A statement by the National Chicken Council also calls the Pew critique “terribly misplaced, and once again demonstrates Pew’s bias against modern farming practices.”

The NCC statement noted that “America’s broiler chicken companies and the 30,000 farm families that grow broiler chickens are committed to the responsible production of food that is safe, affordable and abundant for consumers in the United States and around the world. In contrast to Pew Charitable Trust’s well-known antipathy towards poultry farmers, the industry is more diligent and innovate that ever in pursuing environmental improvements.”