News

NC poultry industry hit by Florence

One of the nation’s largest chicken producers has reported significant losses caused by Hurricane Florence.

In a release issued Monday, Sanderson Farms said that at least 1.7-million chickens have died after 60 of the 880 broiler houses, operated by independent farms, flooded.  The company’s average live inventory is 20-million head.  In addition, approximately 30 farms – which house more than 200,000 chickens each, are isolated by flood waters and employees are unable to reach the farms with feed trucks.  The company says the live inventory loss could escalate if they are unable to regain access to 30 farms.

North Carolina is the nation’s third-largest poultry producing state and poultry production is the state’s top ag industry.