On Monday September 10th, 2018 Georgie Cartanza spoke as a guest lecturer to the AGRI130 class. She touched on many issues and changes within the poultry industry, the focus being on the poultry industry in Delmarva. What was very surprising was how many birds are produced annually in Delmarva. The number being 605 billion birds produced annually. This is equivalent to 9.6% of the national production. Ms. Cartanza also touched upon misconceptions regarding the use of GMOs, steroids and chemicals. I was not surprised to hear that many people think this way. The truth to this is that the poultry industry does not use any of the previously mentioned items. Instead the change in the chickens is due to improvements in genetics and nutrition.

Another topic that was covered is the evolution of the chicken houses. More specifically, how the use of technology has greatly increased the welfare of the chickens. In addition, the current version of the chicken houses allow for the farmers to handle and monitor the feeding and cooling systems more efficiently. 

Georgie Cartanza was extremely informative and is a great advocate for both the poultry industry and agriculture.