Farm and Fiddle

North Carolina farmer Craig Watts had a 2-year honeymoon with the poultry industry, built four poultry barns and struggled to pay them off using the corporate system. He learned too late that the corporations hold all the cards--they supply animals, feed, transportation and a market that often pays less than 5 cents a pound for finished chickens. But he got out and this podcast tells how.

Show Notes

North Carolina farmer Craig Watts had a 2-year honeymoon with the poultry industry, built four poultry barns and struggled to pay them off with a contract under corporate rule. He learned too late that the corporations hold all the cards. In this interview, Watts explains how the system works. The farmer takes on all the debt but has no control over the inputs supplied by the corporations. They can bring a farmer "sorry" birds or even let the farmer run out of feed. The corporations supply animals, feed, transportation and a market that often pays less than 5 cents a pound for finished chickens. When he finally paid off the buildings, the corporation demanded expensive improvements that put him back into debt. In the future, Watts worries, there will also be animal diseases to plague factory farms. Like many others, Watts got out of the business and is converting his barns to sustainable agriculture and selling to markets that he can choose.

What is Farm and Fiddle?

Farm and Fiddle is the world's oldest radio program covering sustainable agriculture and local food systems. We air every Wednesday evening from 7 to 8 p.m. central time, from KOPN 89.5 fm, Columbia, Missouri. We speak to the best experts in regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, animal husbandry, and cover topics like how to resist factory farms in the neighborhood and what to do if your crop is knocked out by too much or too little rain, or by a neighbor's sloppy poison application.