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Poultry production in West Virginia's Potomac Valley has tripled in the last decade. The area produces nearly 90 million chickens a year. But is poultry pollution threatening the growing state tourism industry? Is it responsible for a national environmental group's charge that the Potomac River is one of the 10 most endangered rivers in North America? What is being done about the problem, and who is paying the bill? Find out in this special series. |
MOOREFIELD - The South Branch of the Potomac River winds slowly from the Potomac Highlands through the rolling hills and farmlands of Hardy and Hampshire counties.
A microscopic bug that disguises itself as a plant and eats fish has put a national spotlight on chicken manure.
In October 1996, Mark Scott and Barb Taylor toured the Potomac Valley to look at poultry farms.
ANTIOCH - Paul Homan is a poultry farmer, but he doesn't own any birds.
PETERSBURG - Sonny Taylor has everything the well-equipped poultry farmer needs: a 40-by-80-foot shed to shield manure from rain and keep it out of streams and a smaller shed where dead chickens can rot into fertilizer.
CHICKENS have become the biggest agricultural crop in West Virginia, generating more than $148 million in revenue a year. The industry tripled in the past decade, rising from 30 million broilers annually to 90 million.
IN WEST Virginia's chicken industry, the big out-of-state corporations reaping most of the benefits use local contract farmers as buffers for criticism. It's a cynical ploy that often works.
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