Alaska’s last commercial poultry farm closes
Citing excessive regulation as the cause, Triple D, the last commercial poultry farm in the US state of Alaska, has closed.
The state once housed 81,000 chickens on farms and was also known for its turkey production. Anthony Schmidt, the owner of Triple D Farm and Hatchery, said that he simply could not make ends meet. “Poultry prices are too high for what people are willing to pay,” he said.
Schmidt blames a bad economy for the closure of his business. In 2008, before the crash, he bought more birds than he could sell and had been making up for it ever since, even though his turkeys and chickens were widely hailed for their taste.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Alaska was home to between 30,000 and 40,000 chickens, according to statistics kept by the USDA. Then oil arrived, and the state invested millions of dollars in developing an agriculture business in Alaska. By 1982, Alaska was home to about 81,000 chickens, 57,000 of which were classified as ‘layers’.
Source: USAgNet
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