Better Cluck Next Time: ‘Food, Inc.’ chicken farmer has a new, humane farm

[marmar]

‘Food, Inc.’ chicken farmer has a new, humane farm
By Caroline Abels


A version of this post originally appeared on Eat with Care.


Twelve minutes into the 2009 documentary Food, Inc., Carole Morison appears on the screen — haggard, tired, quietly seething. Squinting into the sun, she tells the camera, “I’ve just made up my mind; I’m gonna say what I have to say,” and she proceeds to show and tell.

Wearing a face mask, she steps inside one of her chicken houses, where she is raising broilers for Perdue. Inside she reveals a crowded sea of birds bumping into each other and squawking in agitation. Chickens are shown taking a few steps and falling down — due to the weight they’ve been bred to put on rapidly. Others are on their backs, gasping for breath inside a chicken house they cannot leave. Carole picks up a few dead birds and throws them in a pile.

She walks back outside, removes her face mask, wipes the dust off her face, and says with disgust, “That’s normal.”

But it’s far from normal today. Carole Morison is still stepping into her chicken houses in Pocomoke, Md., but now the chickens follow her. Rather than flee, they try to roost on her shoulder. Now she doesn’t have to wear a face mask, and she’s hopeful that she may be able to take antibiotics again after years of developing allergies while using Perdue’s antibiotic-laden feed. And in a widely circulated photograph taken for Flavor magazine, she looks 10 years younger than she did in the movie. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/sustainable-farming/food-inc-chicken-farmer-has-a-new-humane-farm/

[Javaman]

1. I remember that segment. Good for her...

I am curious, wasn't she a contract farmer? I vaguely recall her saying that she was. That would put her in a huge financial hole. I wonder how she was able to come out from under that?

[get the red out]

2. Wonderful!

What I wish is that people would get the message that this isn't JUST about helping animals live decent lives, it's about OUR health also. Of course that is a hard one to get accross to everyone through the corporate controlled trash that's spewed, and the inhumane, unhealthy stuff is cheaper. The end cost is so high though. My husband and I spend quite a bit on food, but my God it's going into our bodies! People will spend more to get the best car wax and ignore what they put in their own body.

My sister and her husband raise chickens and sell free-range eggs. Those eggs are so good! And they know a lot of the chickens on sight and even their personalities. Of course they become dinner too on a regular basis, but their live was a really great chicken life up until then.