Some of us are born with the talent to make things a little bit better. They know that the difference between something looking “nice” and looking “expensive” lies in the
This spring, a virulent strain of bird flu ripped through U.S. farms. The public hardly noticed. That we could ignore the disease shows just how little we’ve learned about the origin of new viruses.
Related Dave Mathias’ family has worked the land around Moorefield in Hardy County, West Virginia, for generations. His home in the community of Old Fields is just a mile away from a farm where his grandfather raised cattle and his cousin later tended crops. But that cousin recently sold the land to WV Poultry Partners, LLC.
Now, it’s a construction site for 15 large confinement chicken houses that will supply Pilgrim’s Pride. Combined, the structures will cover the length of 26 football fields. Less than five miles away, in the same community, WV Poultry Partners is building an even bigger facility. That one will have the capacity to hold close to a million chickens at a time in 19 houses; a quiet subdivision built to overlook what was once a picturesque rolling meadow is about 1,000 feet away.