Oklahoma poultry production is predominant in the eastern part of the state. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated that some counties in that region had over 290,000 head in 2016. The heaviest populated county in 2016 was in Northeast Oklahoma. That same year poultry production numbers were down across the board.
The Tulsa Word recently reported that in 2017-2018, there was a surge in poultry operations that was concerning residents. The report explained that a look at long term trends revealed that while each farm is raising more birds there are less operators.
Oklahoma poultry production was reportedly at a high in 2001-2004, with most of the production taking place in southeast Oklahoma. However, recently the Tulsa World requested the last 20 years of numbers of both new and discontinued poultry farm registrations across eastern Oklahoma counties. Their request revealed that, “trends and concentrations have not been closely tracked by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry the past 20 years, and that what was a relatively volatile industry of many small operations has evolved into one of fewer operations raising more birds at each facility,” the report said.
Current active registrations show that the highest production is split between northeast and southeast parts of the state. Growth in taking place in Delaware and Adair counties, the report explained.
Agriculture Department Director of Environmental Management Services, Jeremy Seiger, told the Tulsa World that the overall trend is something they are seeing in other species too. The number of farming operations is going down while the number of head continues to grow.
This is where citizen concern begins to take place. Multiple permits have recently been filed in Delaware County for houses with 280,000 to 300,000 bird capacity.
Pam Kingfisher, with the citizens group Green Country Guardians, explained in the report that the people within the area have always lived with the birds, it’s when the houses grew people began to felt imposed upon.
Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation form poultry growth council
On September 12, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker announced that the state and tribe formed a coordinating council to evaluate the expansion of poultry growth in northeast Oklahoma.
The Coordinating Council on Poultry Growth examine the expansion of poultry production and its impact on rural communities and citizens in the region.
The Oklahoma State Board of Agriculture did not act on a new set of rules involving new poultry operation registrations in the state during its December 11 meeting, which ultimately leaves the state’s current moratorium on such operations in place until May 31, 2019.
That moratorium has been in place since October, but it was never intended to be permanent.
The continued suspension on accepting and processing applications does not impact the nearly 600 existing poultry operations, which are mainly located in the eastern part of the state, reported the Muskogee Phoenix. However, it does impact those wanting to start operations with over 30,000 birds.
