Tyson Food's expansion in west Tennessee is pitting longtime farmers against one of the nation's [View all]

Tyson Food’s expansion in west Tennessee is pitting longtime farmers against one of the nation’s biggest protein suppliers


BEECH BLUFF, TN — Larry Blankenship and his wife, Monica, lived in a trailer on his father’s farm for more than 30 years while saving for a home of their own.

They finally did in 2019, moving into a pretty one-story ranch built where their trailer used to be.

But their joy was short-lived; the weekend they moved in, a line of backhoes and construction equipment rumbled past their driveway to the property next door, breaking ground on what will soon become a massive chicken farming operation.

Three enormous chicken houses—metal-roofed barns about as long as the Washington Monument is tall—are now under construction a stones’ throw away from their back porch. Each will house a steady cycle of at least 25,000 birds at a time—an equivalent to the urine and feces produced by 16,000 humans in each barn, according to estimates by the Sierra Club.

Read more: https://tennesseelookout.com/2021/05/03/tyson-foods-expansion-in-west-tennessee-is-pitting-longtime-farmers-against-one-of-the-nations-biggest-protein-suppliers/