After two years of community protests, a proposal to build 13 chicken houses on a farm in Wicomico County, Maryland, was defeated last week. The complex would have been the largest such operation in the county’s history. Neighbors worried about potential air and groundwater pollution from the influx of chickens.
Wicomico is on the Delmarva Peninsula, a region known for its poultry production. According to Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., a local poultry industry trade group, the region produced nearly 4 billion pounds of chicken in 2015 and contains more than 4,800 chicken houses. Communities in Delmarva and the surrounding areas have long asserted that the concentration of chicken houses has exposed them to poorer air quality, nitrate runoff in waterways, and other environmental and health effects.
The Tyson proposal was defeated when another farmer in the region bought the parcel of land in question. The new owners intend to use the land for sod farming.