Flows are tight, and I’m just looking at it as another source
when and where their chicken manure will be applied, said Scott Banbury, conservation program coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Tennessee chapter.
“What happened in the past two years is we basically deregulated chicken farming in Tennessee,” Banbury said.
Sparkman, Tyson’s spokesman, said all chicken farmers will be encouraged to develop a nutrient management plan based on guidance from the University of Tennessee.
Brock said he also had questions about issues raised in Tonganoxie. After site visits to the Union City plant, contributing farms and the Arkansas headquarters, he was impressed with operations and felt reassured about smells and working conditions.
“The stigma is, it’s a dirty business,” Brock said. “We did our due diligence to find out that a lot of that is simply not true.”
Littleton said he does not expect chicken odor to be an issue in the rural parts of Gibson County where chickens will be raised.
“Everyone around here was either raised on the farm or had family members who farm,” he said. “They understand that’s just part of feeding this world.”
Littleton also expects farmers to follow waste guidelines that protect local water sources. Farmers don’t want to waste the fertilizing source and they also depend on the land and water around them for their livelihood, he said. He supported the recent legislation eliminating permits.
“Regulations are a huge burden for us,” Littleton said. “We want a clean environment. People don’t understand we make our living with our environment, so why wouldn’t we want it as safe and clean as it can be?”
Having watched what unfolded in Kansas, Witherspoon said local officials sought to engage the community and involve them in the process early on. They held meetings with area farmers and talked with community leaders about the Tyson prospect ahead of the announcement, made in November, and the project has been well-received by farmers and the business community.
“We talked with dozens of people — not just community leaders — about the project early in the process leading up to our announcement, and listened to their feedback,” Doug Ramsey, Tyson’s group president of poultry, said.
Robert Holland was the only one of three Leavenworth County Commissioners in Kansas to vote against rescinding the $500 million in revenue bonds that would have gone toward the Tyson plant proposed in Tonganoxie. He said he wished those opposing the plant would have sat down with county officials to learn more about what the plant would entail. He credits social media campaigns with influencing residents.
“I think they got misled on some of the issues,” Holland said. “It was a very good deal for Leavenworth County. It would have given us jobs in our community.”
In Gibson County in Tennessee, officials are optimistic the plant will trigger new business creation and help them lure more companies to the area.
“Things are going to get better for Gibson County,” Witherspoon said. “We’ve been beat on and picked on and on up. It’s time for us to have a success story and claw our way back. If it takes growing chickens to do it, then so be it.”