Joe F. Sanderson Jr., chairman and CEO of Sanderson Farms, continues to stress why the third largest broiler company is not joining the movement to raise chickens without antibiotics.
Speaking during the Stephens Spring Investment Conference on June 6, Sanderson said one of the key reasons the company will continue to treat chickens with antibiotics is because of the environmental benefits.
The company has researched the issue extensively, he said, and what it has learned is that raising chickens without antibiotics also uses more resources than raising chickens that are judiciously treated with antibiotics.
And while Sanderson does not like to use the cliché “sustainability program,” he said that if the company were to eliminate the use of antibiotics, its environmental footprint would be much larger.
“We try to use fewer gallons of water every year, less feed, less wood, less ground, less corn, less soybean meal. We don’t use the planet as much,” Sanderson said. “Well, you go antibiotic-free, then you’re going to use more ground, more corn, more soy, more water, more days in the house. You’re going to use more of everything. The chickens are going to be in the house longer. They’re not going to convert as well, more of them are going to die.”
Sanderson, during his presentation, did name several major poultry companies that have opted to convert either partially or completely to no antibiotics ever production. He does not condemn them for doing so, but rather chooses to take a different approach on antibiotic use.
“We don’t think it’s wrong for other people to go a different route, but for us and our principles, this is the way we did this,” he said.
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