Georgia Communities Are Pushing Back Against Big Chicken

Georgia is the number one state for poultry production in the nation. The so-called Peach State raises more than a billion chickens each year. In some towns, the industry is so dominant that “poultry” is part of the town motto. But as the industry expands, poultry operations are moving closer to neighborhoods, prompting concerns among residents about potential environmental and health impacts.

Coffee County residents know these fears well. This past spring, residents discovered plans for what would have become the state’s largest poultry concentrated animal feeding operation or CAFO: an 1,000-acre complex of 60 barns housing up to three million birds along the banks of the Satilla River.

Neighbors mobilized quickly. They packed town halls, flooded local officials with questions and built a grassroots campaign that eventually led to legal action instituted this past September. In October, the residents learned the legal effort was successful. A judge blocked the project, a victory that Satilla Riverkeeper Shannon Gregory called “a big win for the Satilla.” Throughout the process, Gregory leaned on Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers, whose watershed in Seminole County would also be impacted by another poultry operation proposal.

About 150 miles west, Seminole County residents are hoping for some of Coffee County’s luck. Residents there are mounting their own fight against a proposed commercial chicken farm, looking to replicate Coffee County’s victory.

A Community Kept in the Dark

Sentient spoke with Seminole County residents who felt frustrated, feeling like the county never made a real effort to inform the community about the proposed poultry operation. These residents say they only learned about the proposal by chance, through a small legal notice buried in a local newspaper.

“They had a little article in a small newspaper, maybe a three-by-five article or post saying ‘notice of hearing’,” Tammy Reese Grimsley, a resident in the county, tells Sentient. “And it was the week of July Fourth. So people are out of town… people are on vacation. That’s kind of the oldest trick in the book.” Another resident described a barely noticeable eight-by-ten piece of paper posted on land.

The project would consist of three poultry houses, each holding 14,000 chickens, and would sit about 600 feet from nearby homes.

A number of residents say the county has largely ignored their concerns. Tammy Holcomb described widespread frustration, noting that even though the county commissioners are elected by the community, they often fail to listen. She pointed to a petition signed by more than 300 people and the large turnout at county meetings as evidence of the community’s efforts to be heard.

Residents also point to potential conflicts of interest in the permitting process. Two county officials with ties to the project initially participated in decisions related to the farm before recusing themselves, raising questions about transparency and bias in the decision-making. Sentient reached out to both officials for comment but did not receive a reply.

Holcomb said the move did little to reassure the community that the county was prioritizing residents’ concerns. Ultimately, residents’ frustration with the county isn’t just about transparency or oversight, it’s about the health and safety of their families. Many worry that the proposed poultry farm could bring serious environmental and public health risks if left unchecked.

A Community Health Issue

While the Seminole County project is much smaller than Coffee County’s 60-barn operation, the three poultry houses still house thousands of birds.

Industrial poultry operations produce significant waste, rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. If mismanaged, this waste can seep into groundwater or be washed into creeks and rivers, contaminating private wells and public waterways with pathogens. It also overloads these waters with excess nitrogen and phosphorus, causing nutrient pollution and degrading the water quality. Increasingly frequent hurricanes and extreme weather events only raise the risk.

Manure waste from poultry farms can contribute to algae blooms, oxygen depletion, fish kills and the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in nearby waters. Dust and ammonia from poultry houses can also travel through the air, aggravating respiratory conditions in residents who live nearby.

The proposed site is located close to a small creek, but the potential for ecological harm extends beyond the region, says Rogers.

The creek is dry for a portion of the year, but during wet periods it’s flowing. The water eventually drains into Spring Creek, a major tributary of Lake Seminole and the Flint River. From there, it joins the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, forming the Apalachicola River, which empties right into the Gulf of Mexico.

“We’ve got to be careful,” Reese Grimsley says. “It would impact not just Georgia. But Georgia, Alabama and Florida, because everything we do here ends up in the Gulf.”

Rogers agrees. “It’s a really, really bad place,” he says.

The ecological and health stakes are compounded by concerns about enforcement and oversight. “There’s no water monitoring specifically focused on CAFO operations,” Rogers says. “There’s no special government unit responsible for monitoring that, so it falls on citizens, including groups like the Riverkeepers and a local group called Stewards of Lake Seminole.”

Residents also worry about airborne health risks. Holcomb described how her niece and nephews, who live just a few miles from the proposed site, are particularly vulnerable.

“Airborne illnesses can travel up to six miles,” she said, citing research presented by the Flint Riverkeeper. “My nephew’s been life-flighted multiple times out at least two times in the last three years … because of his seizures and not being able to breathe… To me, that’s a huge issue.”

Other neighbors have expressed concern for residents with lower immune systems. For example, the proposed operation would be around 2,600 feet away from someone with a respiratory illness, according to one resident. The operation would be built directly next to two mobile homes that sit only 592 and 1,066 feet from the proposed buildings, though the permits for these homes have been delayed.

Residents say the county has largely ignored these concerns. They’ve submitted public records requests, petitions with over 300 signatures and created a 63-page citizen response detailing potential impacts on human health, wetlands and waterways. Other concerns include worries about bird flu and a reduction in property values.

“It feels like I’m almost fighting my county,” Reese Grimsley says. “But my county should be more concerned about our land and our water, and I feel like they’re not.”

What’s Next for Seminole County?

Local residents are continuing to attend meetings and collaborate with advocacy groups. They hope Coffee County’s victory shows that grassroots campaigns can succeed. Like their neighbors to the east, some in Seminole County are preparing to take the fight further, potentially through a lawsuit, including an anticipatory nuisance claim, to prevent the poultry operation before it can impact the community.

Residents say that their opposition is not to chicken farms in general, but to the location of this operation. As Reese Grimsley and Holcomb point out, the land sits over a vulnerable aquifer and near Spring Creek, a popular recreational spot that feeds into Lake Seminole. “If we don’t protect our natural resources — our water, our air, our environment — if we don’t protect it now our children aren’t going to grow up like we did,” Reese Grimsley says. “It’s going to be gone.”

On November 11, the county board of commissioners held a regular meeting where they discussed the permit request of the poultry operation.

In their subsequent letter to the poultry operation they stated “after review of credible questions and unconfirmed information, based on the location in this particular area, it is subject to negatively impact adjoining properties.” And “the Board is unable to confirm this will be a nonexisting issue at this time, so we will not approve the permit.”

Though the permit was denied, residents anticipate those backing the new poultry operation in the area will not be deterred by the denial.