Farmers in West Tennessee are suing the federal government, alleging that a loan program benefited mass poultry operations by subsidizing them rather than helping its intended target of family-run farms. The lawsuit calls the actions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) “illegal corporate welfare.”
The group claims that operations for the facilities, including their construction and operations, are “nearly completely controlled by Tyson Foods.”
“Those facilities function not as individual farms, but as extensions of Tyson’s multi-billion-dollar industrial meat complex,” the nonprofit stated. “Despite Tyson’s control over operations, the Henderson County facilities received more than $3.5 million in federally-backed loans through a Farm Service Agency program intended to help ‘family farms’ with start-up and operational costs.”
Large-Scale Poultry Farms in Tennessee
The lawsuit notes that industrial chicken-raising operations affiliated with Tyson Foods are “rapidly spreading across the landscapes and watersheds of West Tennessee.”Tyson constructed a $425 million poultry complex in Humboldt, Tennessee, in 2021, which includes a processing plant, feed mill, and hatchery. The investment is the company’s largest ever in the state and the largest corporate investment ever in Gibson County.
The company has five facilities across Tennessee, according to its website. When Tyson opened its facility in 2021, Republican Gov. Bill Lee said that Tyson has “an enormous impact” on the state’s agriculture industry and rural communities.
“Job creation is crucial to our continued economic success, and I thank Tyson for its investment and commitment to Humboldt and West Tennessee,” Lee said.
The Humboldt facility, which opened in 2021, is expected to employ around 1,500 staff this year. The company expects that the facility alone will generate an annual economic benefit to Tennessee of around $150 million. It said that in 2021, the company employed around 5,000 people in the state, with an annual payroll of $226 million, including payments to Tennessee farmers of more than $61 million.
The Lawsuit
The plaintiffs claim that the USDA, through the Farm Service Agency (FSA), administers a federal lending program intended to help family farms with start-up and operational costs. They allege in the lawsuit that the agency has guaranteed more than $3.5 million in aid to Tyson’s ventures in the state.“Through that lending program, the FSA illegally guarantees seven figure loans used to construct large industrial chicken operations affiliated with Tyson,” the lawsuit claims. “Tyson is a multi-billion-dollar, international conglomerate that does not need help from federal taxpayers.”
Plaintiffs also allege that the company’s operations are hazardous to the local environment. SELC and the Western Tennessee Farmers claim the company “slaughters 1.2 million chickens each week” which takes approximately 330 industrial chicken houses each housing 25,000 or more birds. This includes up to 8.25 million chickens concentrated in rural parts of the state within an hour’s drive of the plant.
The SELC claims the operation causes “significant harm” to surrounding communities by polluting the air with “noxious odors and ammonia, which can irritate and burn the skin, mouth, throat, lungs and eyes of area residents.”
SELC also adds that large-scale chicken operations create thousands of tons of waste each year such as feces, bedding material, and even dead and decomposing birds that could end up in nearby rivers, streams, and drinking water sources.
“These huge, smelly, and dirty industrial poultry facilities threaten to pollute our air, contaminate our water, and ruin our way of life,” said James Lavel, a member of Concerned Citizens of West Tennessee. “The Farm Service Agency should be helping real family farms, not subsidizing massive corporations and rubber stamping dangerous industrial operations that can destroy our communities.”
The SELC and group claim the Farm Service Agency officials ignored the environmental and community impacts, including by hurrying through environmental reviews before “rubber-stamping federal loan guarantees,” which the SELC claims violates the National Environmental Policy Act.
“It is clear that these industrial animal operations—including the poultry facilities in Henderson County—are neither small nor family run,” SELC senior attorney George Nolan said. “The Farm Service Agency’s abuse of loan programs meant to help small, family farmers is a blatant violation of federal law and of the agency’s own regulations. FSA leaders should stop using lending programs meant for family farms to subsidize massive, multi-billion-dollar corporations like Tyson Foods.”
Awaiting a USDA Response
The USDA hasn’t yet replied to the suit in federal court. In response to a request for comment from the agency, a representative told The Epoch Times in an email: “Thank you for reaching out. USDA does not comment on ongoing litigation.”USDA defines a family farm as “any farm organized as a sole proprietorship, partnership or family corporation.” The definition excludes farms “organized as non-family corporations or cooperatives, as well as farms with hired managers.”
