Opposition grows for Sanderson Farm’s poultry slaughterhouse

US residents in Nash and Wilson counties recently formed a new coalition, the Nash County Landowners Association, aimed to stop Sanderson Farms from locating a chicken slaughterhouse in their community.

The group is also announcing a new campaign effort targeting the Sanderson Farms executive team, their Board of Directors, and shareholders.

According to a public opinion survey released by Public Policy Polling, Nash and Wilson residents oppose the project based on environmental reports indicating that animal waste spray fields will negatively impact the local water supply and watersheds.

“Sanderson Farms quietly invaded our neighbourhoods just ahead of the holiday season with a secret plan to locate a chicken slaughterhouse in our midst. The slaughterhouse and surrounding unregulated chicken houses will change the character of our community and its precious water resources tremendously.” said Con Ward, Chairman of the Nash County Landowners Association.

“Sanderson Farms is a large, publicly-traded company and pushed our county officials to move according to a timetable that suited their shareholders. This week a number of our residents will be purchasing stock in the company. We plan to use our new position as shareholders to petition the Board of Directors for time at their next meeting to address our concerns about this proposal,” said Ward.

In addition to petitioning the Board of Directors the group will ask to review the files from the company regarding their site selection process.