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.
Grumpy From Birth But Vegan Since 1976
Welcome to Grumpy Vegan
- Kim Stallwood is an independent scholar and author on animal rights. His forthcoming book, Animal Dharma, explores what it means to care deeply about animals. Starting in 1976, he has held leadership positions with some of the world’s foremost organisations in the UK and US, including CIWF, BUAV, PETA, The Animals’ Agenda, Animals and Society Institute and Minding Animals International. A vegetarian since 1974 when as a student he worked in a chicken slaughterhouse. A vegan since 1976. His evil twin is the Grumpy Vegan.
