Poultry raised without the routine use of antibiotics has gone mainstream, but small-scale farmers who have raised antibiotic-free birds for years aren't seeing the profits.
Terrell Spencer, who has owned Across the Creek Farm near Fayetteville with his wife since 2008, said consumers are becoming more concerned with where their meat is coming from, going to grocers such as Whole Foods and fast-food restaurants including Panera and Chipotle that advertise reduced antibiotic use.
"It's not just foodies anymore," he said. "It's becoming more of a national debate."
Meat products from animals raised without the routine use of antibiotics account for about 5 percent of meat sold in the United States. But demand for these products is rising fast -- as much as 34 percent in 2014 -- according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit.
The country's biggest poultry processors and suppliers have been moving to reduce antibiotics in their poultry and poultry products.
But for a farmer with a small operation, Spencer said he hasn't seen a spike in demand for his product. He is a supplier to Ozark Natural Foods co-op in Fayetteville. His birds are raised on a pasture. They are moved to fresh grass every day and fed on nongenetically modified feed.
"Different consumers have different needs," he said. "Some people need quantity and other folks want quality."
Tyson Foods announced in April that it intends to reduce the use of antibiotics by the end of September 2017. The company said it would continue to use antibiotics to treat sick animals.
That announcement followed one by McDonald's that the fast-food chain would drop some antibiotics from its chicken products within two years. Tyson is a major supplier for McDonald's. Last year, Chick-fil-A Inc. pledged to stop selling chicken with antibiotics within five years.
Perdue Farms Inc. also has moved toward reducing routine antibiotic use. According to the company's website, Perdue has eliminated all types of antibiotics from about half of the chickens it sells. Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the second-largest chicken processor after Tyson, said earlier this year that it plans to eliminate all antibiotics from a quarter of its chicken production by 2019.
Jim Protiva, owner of Peace Valley Poultry in southern Missouri, said it's not realistic to expect major poultry producers to immediately reduce antibiotic use.
"You have to reduce flock operation and you have to be a lot more proactive manager," he said. "You have to be observant and see what's going on."
He said the push for antibiotic-free poultry hasn't increased his sales.
"I can't tell that it's actually helped our business," he said. "I can't point to any increase in sales that would support that."
Protiva said he doubled his poultry production this year because he thought there would be more people demanding his antibiotic-free meat, combined with record high beef prices.
"We ended up putting a lot of it in the freezer," he said.
Mary Kelley, co-owner of Mountain Meadow Farms in Hatfield, said demand has been steady for the past few years.
She said her farm and others like it have different systems and environments than the big poultry producers.
"I don't see them being able to do what we are doing," she said. "I think they can definitely take steps toward bettering some of the factors like antibiotics and hormones."
She puts her birds on a pasture in portable pens, and moves them twice a day so the birds are always on fresh grass.
"We know everything they're consuming," she said. "They have fresh feed and water daily and fresh pasture. It's hard work, very hard work."
Spencer said farmers who focus on raising their birds without the use of any antibiotics shouldn't measure their success against major poultry processors.
"We aren't adversarial with the traditional poultry industry," he said. "We produce a completely different product."
SundayMonday Business on 10/04/2015