Life Beyond the Contract: How Agribusiness Giants Exploit Small Farmers
With industrialized poultry production comes a host of harms, including the exploitation of small farmers.
Socially Responsible Agriculture Project’s (SRAP) four-part Facebook Live series, Poultry Cracked Open, features three former contract poultry growers—who now serve on SRAP’s Field Operations team—share their personal experiences of feeling trapped in the contract grower production system, how the industry’s “tournament” system creates a discouraging way for farmers to earn a living, and why proposed changes to the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) could lead to better protections for small farmers.
In Episode 1, you'll meet the three former contract growers who escaped the grip of industrialized poultry production to work with rural communities harmed by industrial agriculture. Susie Crutchfield, Michael Diaz, and Craig Watts, who lead SRAP’s Contract Grower Transition Program, share their personal experiences contracting for agribusiness giants, and how they were able to leave contract production once and for all.