Recession Closes In on Chicken Farmers
April 13, 2009
By David Zucchino
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Siler City, N.C. -- Four years ago, Andrew Meeks literally bet the farm on chickens. Now he fears he made a losing bet.
Photo: Without offers, Andrew Meeks of Siler City, N.C., faces foreclosure. “I paid a lot of money for these chicken houses, but they aren’t worth a nickel right now,” he said. (David Zucchino / Los Angeles Times)
His three massive chicken houses are empty, and a "For Sale" sign has sprouted out front. Meeks, a contract chicken farmer, borrowed nearly half a million dollars to refurbish his 25-acre farm, putting up as collateral his home, the farm and virtually everything else he owns.
But the company that provided his chickens and paid him to raise the birds canceled his contract. Without chickens, he can't earn the money to pay off his loans.
Foreclosure is on the horizon.
"I paid a lot of money for these chicken houses, but they aren't worth a nickel right now. There's no market for the birds," Meeks said, strolling through one of his darkened chicken houses, scattering white feathers and startling a lone chicken.
The worst recession in decades has hammered all types of businesses across the country, farming included. But among the hardest hit are contract chicken farmers in the South and especially in North Carolina, the nation's second-leading poultry producer, where it is a $3.3-billion industry.
Last winter, the economic crisis created "pretty much a catastrophe" for contract farmers, said Dan Campeau, a North Carolina State University poultry specialist and extension agent.
Demand for chicken nose-dived as beleaguered consumers cut back. The industry's two biggest foreign markets, Russia and China, drastically trimmed their orders. Fuel prices surged, driving up the cost of chicken feed as some grain crops were diverted to produce ethanol.
Pilgrim's Pride of Pittsburg, Texas, one of the country's largest chicken companies with $8.5 billion in sales last year, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. In six central North Carolina counties, 44 farmers lost their contracts, including Meeks.
Together, the 44 farmers owe at least $18 million to banks on investments in their farms, Campeau said. Only four have found contracts with other chicken processors. Two have retired. The rest are searching desperately for a lifeline in a glutted market.
"The industry is swamped with product right now. But these growers [farmers] have big debts and can't wait for the market to turn around," said Bob Ford, executive director of the North Carolina Poultry Federation.
'We're baby-sitters'
Nationally, 800 to 900 chicken farmers have lost contracts since last fall, almost all of them in the South, said Gary McBryde, an economist with the Department of Agriculture. Chicken production is down 7% since April 2008, the National Chicken Council said.
Contract chicken farmers are at the mercy of big chicken processors, known as "integrators," which provide chicks and feed. Contracts require farmers to provide chicken houses, pay to heat and cool them, and maintain water lines and other equipment. Farmers must dispose of chicken waste and dead birds.
The farmers raise the chicks to maturity, then are paid by the pound for the meat. But the integrators own the chickens and decide how many the farmers get. They determine the formulas under which farmers are paid, based on a complicated feed-to-meat ratio.
"We're basically baby-sitters," Meeks said.
Farmers provide half the capital in the industry but earn only 1% to 3% on their investments, versus more than 20% for integrators in boom times, the National Contract Poultry Growers Assn. said.
In good economic times, integrators provide enough chicks for farmers to pay down their loans and turn a profit. But in bad times, contracts can be canceled on short notice, leaving farmers like Meeks stuck with expensive chicken houses and equipment.
In February, Pilgrim's Pride announced that it would shut down three of its 32 processing plants -- in Georgia, Arkansas and Louisiana -- by mid-May. Citing the steepest drop in consumer food purchases in 60 years, the company said it lost $1 billion in fiscal 2008 and $229 million in the first quarter this year.
'Painful' situation
Ray Atkinson, a Pilgrim's Pride spokesman, called the situation "very difficult and painful."
He said the North Carolina farmers were given ample notice last fall that the company intended to cut off the 44 bottom-performing farmers out of 128 in the region.
But the company had hoped to avoid such cuts. Atkinson said the company kept the farms on last spring when it closed its Siler City processing plant. Rather than terminate farmers supplying that plant, Pilgrim's Pride combined them with farmers supplying a company plant in Sanford, N.C.
Overall, Atkinson said, Pilgrim's Pride has cut off about 300 of its 5,000 contract farmers. About 430 will be affected by the three more plant closings next month.
Meeks said he didn't blame anyone for his troubles. As a farmer and businessman, he knows he is at the mercy of market forces beyond his control.
Because of the recession, "integrators were making money on the margins, but the margins have run out," Meeks said. "That's the chicken business."
He purchased the farm four years ago and shares the two-bedroom house with his wife and dogs. At 52, he said, he's hardly an attractive catch for employers, and he's not eligible for unemployment compensation or food stamps.
"I'm not crying the blues," he said. "With this economy, a lot of people are worse off than I am."
He is proud of his hard work in rebuilding the once-derelict chicken farm. He owns a "Grower of the week" hat and a "Top 10 grower" jacket, awarded for high-quality production in good times, when he raised 60,000 birds at a time.
Two weeks ago, Meeks reluctantly put up the "For Sale" sign, but he has not received a single call.
"It's just one fool looking for another fool," he said. "I mean, nobody is going to buy chicken houses now, when you can't sell chickens to anybody."
Ford, of the poultry federation, predicted that the market for chickens wouldn't recover until at least next fall or winter. He said most contract farmers couldn't wait that long.
Meeks said his banker had told him he needed to "come up with a plan" to continue making debt payments. Right now, he said, he doesn't have a plan.
"All I ever aspired to be was a farmer. Chicken farming is a good life," he said, sitting in his frame house at dusk, gazing out at this three forlorn chicken houses. "Now I don't know what I'll do. I have no idea."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chickens13-2009apr13,0,1116647,full.story
Monsanto’s Roundup Residues in GM Food Cause Cell Damage
April 7, 2009
Mercola
Residues of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide found in GM food and feed can cause cell damage and even death, even at very low levels. The authors of a study on the subject say their research “... points to undesirable effects which are currently masked or hidden from scientific scrutiny.”
Roundup herbicides are among the most commonly used in the world, especially on GM crops that are engineered to be Roundup resistant. Their residues are among the major pollutants, and they are authorized as residues contaminating GM foods and feed at the tested levels.
The researchers studied toxicity mechanisms of four different Roundup formulations in human cells. The formulations were diluted at minimal doses (up to 100,000 times or more), but they still caused cell death within a few hours. The researchers also noted membrane and DNA damages, and found the formulations inhibit cell respiration.
Sources:
Chemical Research in Toxicology January 2009;22(1):97-105
Organic Consumers Association January 5, 2009
Dr. Mercola’’s Comments:
Roundup Ready soybean, cotton and corn crops are the world’s largest group of genetically modified crops. In fact, the GM Roundup Ready gene is part of more than 75 percent of soybeans, 65 percent of cotton and 10 percent of corn grown in the United States.
This particular variety of GM crops became so popular because it allows farmers to spray Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide directly onto their fields without harming the crops. Ordinarily, if you were to spray Roundup, or any other glyphosate-based herbicide, onto a plant, it would die.
Millions of pounds of Roundup are used every year on U.S. gardens, lawns and farms. It works by inhibiting an enzyme called EPSP synthase, which is necessary for plants to grow. Without it, plants are unable to produce essential proteins so they slowly yellow and die. The GM Roundup Ready crops, however, produce an enzyme that has the same function as EPSP synthase, but is not affected by Roundup.
As you might imagine, the use of Roundup herbicide has increased dramatically since the GM Roundup Ready crops were introduced, and serious problems have been reported ever since.
GM Crops May Contain Toxic Roundup Residues
It’s widely known that GM Roundup Ready crops contain Roundup residues. This latest study showed, for the first time, just how toxic these residues may be to your health. Even when researchers tested formulations of Roundup that were highly diluted (up to 100,000 times or more) on human cells, the cells died within 24 hours.
They also found damage to cell membranes and DNA, along with an inhibition of cell respiration.
Further, the researchers discovered that the mixture of components used as Roundup adjuvants actually amplified the action of the glyphosate, making at least one of its metabolites even more toxic. The researchers wrote:
“This work clearly confirms that the adjuvants in Roundup formulations are not inert. Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death around residual levels to be expected, especially in food and feed derived from Roundup formulation-treated crops.”
More Dangerous Roundup Research
Monsanto long used the slogans, “It’s Safer than Mowing,” “Biodegradable,” and “Environmentally Friendly” to describe Roundup — until the real effects of this toxic herbicide were revealed and they were forced to discontinue their deceptive advertising.
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, is the most commonly-reported cause of pesticide illness among landscape maintenance workers in California. Additionally:
• The surfactant ingredient in Roundup is more acutely toxic than glyphosate itself, and the combination of the two is even more toxic.
• Glyphosate is suspected of causing genetic damage.
• Glyphosate is acutely toxic to fish and birds and can kill beneficial insects and soil organisms that maintain ecological balance.
• Laboratory studies have identified adverse effects of glyphosate-containing products in all standard categories of toxicological testing.
In one animal study, rats given 1,000 mg/kg of glyphosate resulted in a 50 percent mortality rate, and skeletal alterations were observed in over 57 percent of fetuses!
And just so you understand, GM crops that are resistant to Roundup are the most widely sold GM varieties. So if you eat GM foods, there is a very good chance those foods contain Roundup residues — and possibly hefty amounts of them.
According to Jeffrey Smith, leading spokesperson on the dangers of GM foods, by 2004, farmers used an estimated 86 percent more herbicide on GM soy fields compared to non-GM. Higher levels of herbicide residue in this GM soy might cause health problems, and many symptoms identified in one UK soy allergy study are also related to glyphosate exposure.
The allergy study identified irritable bowel syndrome, digestion problems, chronic fatigue, headaches, lethargy, and skin complaints including acne and eczema, all related to soy consumption.
Symptoms of glyphosate exposure include nausea, headaches, lethargy, skin rashes, and burning or itchy skin. It is also possible that glyphosate‘s breakdown product AMPA, which accumulates in GM soybeans after each spray, might contribute to allergies.
GM Foods are NOT Safe
This latest study is just one more reason why you should be very careful about keeping GM foods out of your diet. Aside from their potential to be contaminated with toxic Roundup residues, GM crops routinely create unintended proteins, alter existing protein levels, or even change the components and shape of the protein that is created by the inserted gene.
This results in brand new proteins that have never before existed in food, some of which may be causing severe allergic reactions.
Creating a GM crop can also produce massive changes in the natural functioning of the plant‘s DNA. Native genes can be mutated, deleted, permanently turned on or off, or change their levels of protein expression. No one knows how this will impact human health, but so far Jeffrey Smith has documented at least 65 serious health risks related to GM foods.
Among them:
• Offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce
• Male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells
• The embryo offspring of GM soy-fed mice had altered DNA functioning
• Several US farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cows fed GM corn varieties
• Investigators in India have documented fertility problems, abortions, premature births, and other serious health issues, including deaths, among buffaloes fed GM cottonseed products
Further, just last year a long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety confirmed GM corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice.
The results were so worrisome that GM opponents called for an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops in order to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world.
Important Tips for Avoiding GM Food
About 70 percent of the foods in your grocery store contain GM foods, so it can be difficult to eat a GM-free diet, but I feel strongly it is one of the more important things you can do for your health, and to help protect the environment.
Particularly in the United States, the GMO giants have been very effective in eliminating legislation that would require them to clearly label GM products and, as a result, most grocery stores in the United States do not post signs next to produce to let you know it’s been genetically modified.
So here is the way you can do it:
Examine the little sticker on the produce and if you see a five-digit number that begins with an 8, take a big pass, as that produce is GM.
Most processed foods and drinks also contain genetically modified ingredients, unless they are organic.
As an aside, if the health risks alone aren’t enough to make you change your mind about eating GM foods, perhaps this little tidbit will be: Farmers who buy Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds are required to sign an agreement promising not to save or sell the seeds, which has been the traditional practice since the beginning of agriculture.
The result of this insane practice is that farmers across the world must now buy new seeds every year, and they must buy them from Monsanto.
So whether you do it for health purposes or to keep an evil company like Monsanto from gaining control of the food supply, making an effort to avoid GM foods is a wise decision.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/07/Monsantos-Roundup-Residues-in-GM-Food-Cause-Cell-Damage.aspx