Poultry growers in Northwest Arkansas are adding more chicken houses to their farms this year, or updating houses to meet company standards according to data released last week.
Travis Justice, chief economist of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said the numbers reflect a trend among poultry growers.
"It used to be standard to have two, or four houses; but now it's common to have six or eight houses per location," Justice said. "It's tended to go higher over the years."
As a result, more poultry houses, and thus more birds, have cropped up in Benton and Washington Counties this year over last year, state data from 2018 and 2017 show. Meanwhile, the number of reported birds, houses and farms fell in Sebastian and Crawford Counties year-over-year.
Updated information for Benton, Washington, Crawford and Sebastian counties was made public in a report presented at the annual Arkansas-Oklahoma Arkansas River Compact Commission meeting held Thursday morning in Siloam Springs. A 2017 poultry litter spreadsheet was acquired through the state's Freedom of Information Act.
According to both data sources, more poultry farms have moved into Washington County this year and there are fewer in Benton County. The number of farms in Washington County has increased to 207, from 184, whereas, the number of farms have decreased in Benton County to 248, from 253, suggesting consolidation.
"The reason the farms are bigger are for more cash flow," said Ed Milliken, a contract chicken grower for George's Inc. "It costs so much to raise chickens, especially for the price of land."
Reported bird capacity totals in Benton County rose to 28.9 million this year, up from 24.1 million, while totals in Washington County rose to 23.1 million this year, up from 17.3 million. Capacities are the maximum number of birds that can be grown at once.
Milliken, 63, said part of the reason more houses are cropping up is for additional processing capacity in the area.
"Over around Decatur, Simmons is building that new processing plant," he said. "I talked with a poultry house salesman. He told me there's a waiting list for people who want to grow chickens. They can't get all the materials they need."
The number of poultry farms is growing in eastern Oklahoma, drawing the attention of rural community leaders and politicians concerned about the water table, property values, road damage from trucks hauling chickens and the not-so-pleasant odors.
In light of the resurgence there, officials of the Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma state have formed an unprecedented joint committee to examine the effect of dozens of factory farms that have been, or plan to be, built near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.
Oklahoma records show that 144 of the new or expanding poultry houses, which have received permits in the last year, are listed to grow birds for Simmons Foods. The new plant will ramp up in Benton County next year.
Benton and Washington Counties, home to Tyson Foods, Simmons Foods and George's Inc., are some of the leading poultry producers in the state.
"It would only be logical to have expansion there, because they are ground-zero for poultry production," Justice said.
Business on 10/02/2018