Delaware's Poultry Industry

As a Northern Delawarian, I was unaware of how powerful and important Delaware's poultry industry was until just recently. Most Delaware residents are in the same boat, oblivious to the economic giant hiding in their backyards. The poultry industry has done a world of good for the state's economy. Delaware, a small, three-county state, is not a minor player in US chicken distribution, it is the figurehead.

There is an abundance of poultry houses located on the Delmarva Peninsula, a relatively small piece of land sandwiched between the Delaware and Chesapeake bays.

These growers have come together as the Delmarva Chicken Association, a community of growers with the aim of promoting chicken breeding, livestock education, and legal protection for growers.

The industry was not always as popular and large as it is today. In fact, the rise of Delaware's poultry production had a rather unconventional beginning.

In 1923 Cecile Steele, an Ocean View resident realized someone must have messed up her order. She had asked for 50 chicks that year, just like she did each year to restock her small backyard flock. This year was different. This time she did not receive 50 chicks, instead, she had mistakenly been sent 500 chicks.

Instead of returning the extras, Steele decided to raise them in her 16’ by 16’ foot shed and eventually sold their meat. This led her to realize the profit that could be made from selling poultry and Cecile Steele and her husband David Steele opened the first hatchery on Delaware soil. This epiphany spread like wildfire and within the next five years there were over 500 growers in Sussex County alone. This small delivery mistake led to the creation of the Delmarva Chicken Association in 1948 and the massive billion dollar industry present today.

The industry is the perfect partner when paired with agriculture. Delaware also excels agriculturally, boasting the most effective farms in the nation. They were ranked 1st in the nation for agricultural sales at $2,791 per acre in 2021. Livestock growers also need feed that is best when cheapest and fresh. These needs can be satisfied by local businesses. This cross-pollination helps all parties involved.

As of late, the number of chicken houses in the US is declining, however, the size and output of these houses are increasing. This can be attributed to two factors: one is the aging population of growers, and the second is the consolidation and rise of poultry powerhouses. It just so happens that Delaware is home to 3 of these multimillion-dollar entities.

That was the question that arose compiling the addresses of public and commercial poultry farms to georeference on a map. Unsurprisingly, I found they cluster around the countryside, where the land is both cheaper and flatter. Southern Delaware is less densely populated than Northern Delaware and fits those preferences to the tee.

Nothing about the data was game-changing, however, there were no farms within 5 to 10 miles of the coastline. This is the result of buildable land, soil composition, and land value. Land prices are higher near the coast because of the high demand for beachside residential development. That land near the Delaware Bay is also extremely marshy and within the floodplain. Those two qualities are not good for farming or building.

The farms which raise chickens seem to be distanced from population clusters. This came as no surprise but just enforced what I had expected to find. Contrastingly, businesses that sell chicken meat, and businesses that sell the supplies and equipment needed by growers (indicated in red on the map above) seem to cluster near town centers and busier locations.

While poultry farms have distanced themselves from the coast and the inlet bays, poultry farms are located near many ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. In Delaware, Eutrophication has been a large issue and the poultry industry has been one of the main culprits to blame. Waste runoff finds its way into Delaware's fresh water and eventually into local bays. Sedimentation and turbidity are major issues for the Chesapeake Bay.

The industry has received a lot of criticism for waste pollution and animal living conditions from multiple watershed protection groups and animal rights protection agencies. In recent years industry standards have risen and new legislation has helped clean up the industry significantly.

One way they minimize waste pollution is by planting environmental buffers and grass plugs around livestock sheds. These lessen air pollution created by livestock. It also prevents potential water contaminants from animal waste from entering local waterways and contaminating local watersheds. In 2021, Delmarva planted 6,553 trees as part of their vegetative environmental buffers program.

When I began this journey, I was intrigued by the poultry industry, but I did not know many details about it. Early on in my research, I found there were economic and widespread nutritional benefits that the poultry industry brought to Delaware. Sadly, my research also revealed, that like seemingly everything in life, the industry also had many concerning downsides. The largest three concerns were animal treatment, waste pollution, and monopolization. My intention was to educate the reader about the process from a neutral position. I hope that if you were like me, slightly uninformed about Delaware's poultry success, you now have an understanding of how the industry has developed, where farms are located, and the criticisms the industry faces. The best way to move forward is to clean and improve the process. The poultry community needs the support of the people going forward to continue minimizing its environmental impact and Delaware will continue to need the jobs, food, and money the poultry industry brings in. No matter your feelings on the topic, one thing is certain, Delaware and chickens go way back, and over the last 100 years, the pair have played a tremendous role in each other's history.