Source: Rita Mae Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 5/19/15


John Oliver is a British political satirist, writer, producer, television host, actor, voice actor, media critic, and stand-up comedian. He might also be someone for the chicken industry to reckon with.

In his weekly show “Last Week Tonight” he delivered an 18-minute monologue about the chicken industry tournament system relationship with its contract growers.

“Chicken farming can be almost as brutal for the farmers as it is for the chickens. Here's our piece from last night. ” was the message the show posted on Twitter promoting the segment, which aired Sunday night.

Though technically a satire, the report was formatted like a news story, replete with video clips of congressional hearings, industry events and chicken farmers talking about their financial difficulties. It ended with a call to action, encouraging viewers to push their legislators to support failed legislation offered by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) that aimed to protect farmers who speak out against the current system, if the legislation is reintroduced.  

The report has already been picked up by a number of media and blog outlets, including Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Time, The Wall Street Journal and Slate, among others.

Industry response
“This segment, unfortunately, presents a completely one-sided view of U.S. poultry production and is not an accurate reflection of the overwhelming majority of the 25,000 farm families who partner with chicken companies,” according to a statement issued by the National Chicken Council. The NCC has also pointed to its own document explaining the tournament system. 

The NCC cited a University of Delaware survey stating that 75 percent of farmers were satisfied in their relationship with the chicken company, and 73 percent were satisfied with business overall.  Most companies have contracted with farmers for 12+ years on average, if not several generations, and maintain waiting lists of farmers who want to raise chickens for them.

According to NCC, the system insulates farmers from the risk of changing market prices for chicken and feed ingredients such as corn and soybean meal, which represent the vast majority of the cost of growing a chicken.

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