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Chick-News.com Poultry Industry News, Comments and more by Simon M. Shane

Environmental Impact of Lincoln Premium Poultry Complex Evaluated

12/19/2022

When the Lincoln Premium Poultry Complex was proposed for the Freemont, NE. region, opponents cited potential environmental pollution as a negative factor.  The Complex established operation in 2019 and is now at the projected output of two million rotisserie-sized broilers per week for Costco.

 

The Nebraska Farmers Union Foundation (NFUF) commissioned Dr. Mat Sutton, a geologist to monitor nutrients and pathogens in area waters in localities potentially impacted by pollution from broiler houses.  Seven locations in five counties were selected for sampling with nutrient and pathogen levels quantified in surface water.  Assays demonstrated increases in phosphorous and both Salmonella and Campylobacter levels in surveys conducted in 2022, purporting to reflect the effect of farms in operation for over two years. The results were contained in a report entitled Poultry Litter and Stream Health. 

 

In response, Liberty Premium Poultry commissioned Nutrient Advisors to review the NFUF study. The president of the company commented that the data was not correlated with actual application of broiler litter to crops or pasture and discrepancies were evident in the temporal application of litter through the years 2019 through 2020.

 

Prior to commencing production, Lincoln Premium Poultry retained Nutrient Advisors to advise contractors on nutrient management practices.  Lincoln Premium Poultry has cast doubt on the validity of data collected on behalf of the NFUF.  The company maintains that the nitrogen produced by the ongoing operation represented 0.5 percent of the volume required to grow corn in the area potentially impacted by broiler production.

 

The possible impact of broiler production on the nitrogen and phosphorous enrichment of waterways will be a topic of growing concern for this complex as environmentalists have now made common cause with opponents of intensive livestock production.  The Lincoln Premium Poultry Complex is a valuable source of data since, prior to 2020, there was no broiler production in the counties where their growout farms are located.  Unless specific precautions are taken in sampling to avoid confounding, data may be misleading or misinterpreted to falsely demonstrate the impact of broiler production on phosphorous, nitrogen and pathogen levels in streams and groundwater. This has implications for permitting new complexes or expansion of existing centers of production.


 
Copyright © 2024 Simon M. Shane