Going to the Poultry Farm was truly eye opening experience for me. Personally when I think of poultry farming I just thought of farming chickens when really there is much more than that, especially when it comes to organic chicken farming. I would have never thought about the how they couldn’t use rodenticides or insecticides on these farms because honestly I didn’t think that it would effect the chicken that much. Something that really amazed me was when Mrs.Cartanza was talking about how when she opens the doors for the chickens to go outside and not a lot of them do. But, that makes me happy to think that the chickens are just as or more happy in the chicken houses. Another thing I found very interesting was the size comparison from chickens in 1957 to chickens today and it’s crazy to think that genetics and a few other improvements did all that. But, those are the types of animal improvements we need to make to be able to feed are ever growing population. I just want to say thank you to Mrs.Cartanza for a very informal trip.
Field Trip 1: Organic Poultry Farm
On Saturday, September 7th, our class went on a field trip to a poultry farm run by Georgie Cortanza in Kent County, Delaware. She has 4 chicken houses which hold 37,000 chickens a house and 148,000 chickens in total. They weigh 913,900 pounds a flock. A flock is a certain number of birds in one group. She has 5.5 flocks in one year and makes 5,000,000 pounds a year. In total, she feeds 59,808 people a year. Georgies runs an organic farm, meaning that all the chickens there are free range. This means that they get to go outside for a period of time each day.
Chickens are one of the animals that have a lower carbon footprint. The only one lower is fish! The carbon index for chicken is 6.2 versus cows which is 16.2. A chicken also requires less feed for an outcome, which makes it better economically for the farmer. For every 1 job in the poultry industry, it creates 7 more jobs.
My favorite part of the field trip was seeing the baby chicks of course. They are very soft and fun to hold.
What does it Mean to be an Organic Poultry Farmer? – A visit to Georgie Cartanza’s Poultry Farm
Georgie Cartanza welcomed the class to her Organic Poultry Farm in Little Creek, Delaware; ran under Perdue’s organic branch Coleman Natural Foods. She has been raising broilers for almost 15 years now and has seen how the organic sector has changed throughout the years. What does organic chicken mean? The United States Department of Agriculture declares poultry organic if it is GMO and hormone-free, has access to the outdoors with enrichment toys and shade, plus has significant space in the chicken house with access to natural sunlight. These environmental requirements were all set and pushed for by the consumer in order to provide chickens with a “happy” lifespan since the number one questions consumers ask about their food is if it is humanly produced. However, many of these requirements may or may not be the best option for the health and safety of the chickens. Biosecurity is a top priority for any food system. Chickens having open access to the outside affect the biosecurity of the chickens. Pests, predators, and diseases have a higher chance of affecting the flock. In a few years, Georgie will have to plant tall grasses, trees, and other natural plants to provide shade for the outside pasture to meet updated organic standards. While the tall grasses can be planted in front of the house fans to help control air quality, the trees could attract predators and welcome other vectors of disease. As Georgie best puts it: raising chickens is a balancing act between consumer wants and what is best for the chicken. It is very clear how much she cares and loves for the chickens and wants the best all-around.
Evolution of Delmarva Poultry Industry can Help Feed the Future- Guest Lecture by Georgie Cartanza
Georgie Cartanza a Poultry Extension Agent of the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension visited the university at the Georgetown branch to talk about “The Evolution of the Poultry Industry on Delmarva”. Delmarva is made up by Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia; providing almost 10% of national poultry production. These production rates help to provide for employment; one job in the poultry industry creates seven jobs in the community and help feed families up and down the east coast. As of now, Delaware’s poultry industry could provide one chicken to 253 million families. That is all due to the evolution of chickens; hormone and steroid free. Improvements in understanding genetics, nutrition, and technology of the poultry industry are the sciences behind feeding a large population. Technology in feeding and watering has helped farmers save time, money, and resources switching over to automatic pan feeders and nipple drinker systems. With understanding better nutrition and genetics, it has been found chickens have a 2:1 ratio of feed and water needed to produce one pound of meat. Thus, making them a very efficient source of protein. By 2050 the world population will reach to nine billion people, in which Delmarva will confidently be able to help feed.
Georgie as a guest speaker
On Monday September 9th, Georgie came to our class and spoke about the evolution of the poultry industry on Delmarva. Delmarva has 3 counties in Delaware, 8 in Maryland, and 1 in Virginia. They produce 605,000,000 birds a year. In Delmarva, there are multiple feeders, processing plants, and hatcheries that are all required for the health of the birds. They need to be comfortable and kept well so they can eventually be eaten by the people.
Throughout time, there have been many upgrades to the way birds were housed, fed, and kept taken care of. Before the modern broiler grow-out facilities, there were multiple housing facilities before that. The ways these chickens were raised is very different from the way they are now which is much better for us.
Poultry Industry Guest Lecture – Sean Michael
Ms. Georgie’s lecture was very interesting, and I learned quite a bit about the chicken industry. First, I was unaware that Sussex County is the number 1 chicken producing county in the whole country until Monday. Not only is the poultry industry massive, but it also has just as big an economic role; for every 1 job in the poultry industry, it creates 7 jobs in other areas. Ms. Georgie taught us about the vertically integrated industry, which is when farmers, who supply the labor, housing, power, etc., are contracted by companies, which supply the feed (the biggest expense), to raise the chickens, which guarantees that farmers will be able to sell their chickens, while the company gets the kind of chicken they want. The myth of genetically modified chickens was debunked in the lecture, and it was explained that it was improvements in genetics, nutrition, housing, and health that contributed to the average chicken’s weight to skyrocket in half a century. Lastly, Ms. Georgie slammed home the message that Agriculture’s number one challenge is its image, and that the future of Ag needs to build a strong image for itself to succeed.
Guest Speaker Michelle Walfred: Branding and Social Media
“The way you brand yourself is crucial in getting a career” (Michelle Walfred). Ms. Michelle, certified in social media and communications, discussed and advised students at the University of Delaware the importance of decision making, presentation on and off social media, the issues with social media and branding yourself for today and for future careers. Throughout this presentation, the main takeaway was the topic of branding; branding is a marketing strategy used to create an image and identity that is unique and professional in which catches the eyes of employers or consumers. When branding yourself, it is important to develop proper mannerisms in a social gathering, effective communication skills, and a conscientious quality as developing these qualities can allow employers to become interested and see that individual as a good investment for their company in the present and for the future of it down the road. With branding, Ms. Michelle strongly advised students to be mindful of the use of social media and what is presented on your page, as posting one comment or one image can cause opinions to change about your appearance due to it offending someone or it being a bad representation of who you are as an individual and your interest. However, although social media can affect the identity of someone, it can also be used to create a professional identity and advocate for specific topics or beliefs, one specifically being, agriculture.
In todays society, many adopt beliefs before researching the truth about an event or a specific process or career which can cause those things to be downgraded. Thus, social media can be a resourceful way of presenting the truth out to the public as just like many things, agriculture is being villainized on certain processes that occur within the industry all due to the poor platform others have created for it. Essentially, the social media platform allows large agricultural organizations and companies to spread factual information and the truth about agriculture which can change the way the public views the industry for the better of agriculture companies and organizations and for the agriculture industry as a whole, across the world. From this lecture and the information gained, many things can be learned, especially those who are preparing to enter the work force.
Throughout this lecture, the topics of branding and using the social media platform were used which allowed the students within the understanding todays agriculture class and myself to develop a greater sense of social media and branding and ways that it could be affected, improved, and help obtain job opportunities. One fact that I found interesting, was how many organizations use the social media platform to speak the truth, which is unfortunate that many must use this platform to present the truth to the people in this society. However, with the knowledge of these topics, myself and the other students can build a brand and create opportunities for ourselves as well as help advocate for todays agriculture which can help the industry and ourselves today and our future investments.
Guest Speaker Georgie Cartanza: The Evolution of the Poultry Industry On Delmarva
Ms. Georgie Cartanza, a organic poultry farmer, presented and informed students of the Understanding Todays Agriculture class about the evolution of the poultry industry on the Delmarva and how it is managed today. On the Delmarva, there are ten processing plants, thirteen hatcheries, and ten feed mills each of which allow there to be many poultry houses on the Delmarva that are accounting for ten percent of the nations production. With these houses, many jobs are created as for every one job in the industry, it creates seven in the community which overall helps the economy of the state of Delaware. However, the poultry industry was only able to become this efficient and profitable because of the technology that has developed over time; that allows producers to have better structured houses, thermostatic heating, good ventilation inside the houses, feed access such as drips and troughs, and overall a better living environment for the birds which has made the industry very successful in producing poultry. While, in past years, the poultry industry had very little access to technology which limited the producer in the number of birds they could produce and how the producers could tend to the various health needs that are associated with these birds. Over time, the industry has also changed by becoming virtually integrated, which has caused Ms. Cartanza and other poultry producers to grow and produce poultry more based off of the control of the consumer; such as objects like enrichments and outdoor access, like in Ms. Cartanzas organic poultry house, to be placed. Essentially, throughout this presentation many things about the poultry industry in the past and current day time can be learned, which can help the students and myself to develop a better understanding of the industry and develop certain interest with it as well.
Throughout this presentation, I learned many things, the evolution of poultry production, its contribution to the local economy, and how the industry markets there product today. With marketing and production, the industry has become more integrated to the consumers desire for the industry, causing the consumer to become more in control; which I found very interesting because I’ve never heard of it and didn’t think that the consumer would have control of the industry let alone what occurs in the chicken house as well. With the information learned, I now have a better understanding of the industry and how it has become the industry it is today which can allow me to educate others about the poultry industry as well as develop a factual opinion about poultry farms in Delmarva and in other states of the United States.
Poultry Farm
This field trip in the poultry farm was fascinating. I am glad to learn many new things about that not only the agriculture, but also the future career and life. It is a rare chance to engage this kind of activities. Mrs. Georgie Cortanza run this organic poultry farm well. And she explained what organic chicken mean is. The chicken has to had players, an opportunity to access to the outdoors and enjoy the natural light which means that install windows in the chicken house, a big chicken house, be fed organic food, and not be fed any growth hormones or antibiotics. Consumers claimed those factors that can make chicken become a “happy” and “healthy” chicken and it is humanity. But the thing is that when chicken can enjoy outdoor time and no antibiotics, the chance to get sick may increase, when they enjoy natural light, they will be more active, then they will have more movement, then they will lose weight. We don’t know if chicken is happy or not. Like the Mrs. Cortanza said, when you focus on a side, you gonna lose other side. It depends. That is what I learn in today.
Poultry Farm Field Trip – Sean Michael
On Saturday, September 7, the class went to Ms. Georgie’s organic poultry farm. We learned about the life of a broiler chicken, the kind that is grown for its meat, which is typically around 8 weeks. We learned that chickens are very good at turning their food into body weight, it only takes 1.7 pounds of food to gain 1 pound of body weight. To me, the most interesting part of the trip was learning about the tunnel composting of the chickens that do not survive their early life. I found it crazy how the chickens and pine tree shavings were reduced to so little material after just 2 weeks in the vessel. This amazing progression in technology drastically reduces the volume of Ms. Georgie’s compost, but there is a lot less effort in the whole process, thus saving valuable time. Overall the whole trip was a pretty eye-opening experience, seeing where my food really comes from gives me a different perspective on the whole food safety debate. I very much enjoyed the look of a hairnet and full body suit (pic related), completed with a pair of shoe bootie cover things, and appreciate the treat of Chick-Fil-A for lunch.
Poultry farm
Georgie Cortanza owns a poultry farm here in the state of Delaware. She takes care of almost 150,000 chickens which can feed almost 60,000 people for a year. Georgie does not use any GMO’s or steroids to help her chickens grow a significant amount of meat. They are all organic chickens. On Georgie’s farm she has new technology which helps the chickens grow and mature in a comfortable environment. She raises them from when they are little chicks to when they are ready to be processed for people’s food supply.
Georgie’s chickens are worth over three billion dollars but they also require a billion on just food. She needs to do much more to prepare them besides feeding them. Every one job in the poultry industry creates seven jobs in the community for other people. Having the farm in Delaware helps a lot of people around us because are near many large cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, NYC, and even Wilmington. Georgie’s farm feeds people in all of these cities.
Cartanza Organic Poultry Farm
“The poultry industry is critically important to our economy; a lot of people don’t understand that” (Georgie Cortanza). 13 years ago, Ms Georgie Cortanza built four chicken houses that are 65ft wide and 600ft long, each of which hold 37,000 chickens per house and total to around 148,000 birds on the farm. Currently, in the chicken houses, are the breed Ros 708 broilers, that are grown in a time span based off of the consumers desire of the weight of the chicken meat they are purchasing; which is typically six and a half pounds and makes the bird seven weeks of age when they leave the farm. From this farm, 5 million pounds of meat is produced a year, which could feed about 780,000 families all due to the technology, tools, and procedures that are used on the organic farm. On this organic farm, and many other organic poultry farms, producers must follow certain standards of the USDA and those standards are the broilers are fed organically grown feed which mostly comes from the countries Argentina and Turkey due to the U.S. not growing enough organic plants for feed for organically grown chickens and the birds must be raised in a 92 degree fahrenheit temperature in the house which must be close or equal to when the birds are allowed access to the outdoor enrichment space with access to water from drips that hang from the ceiling as well as feed that are in small troughs lined up bellow them.
Enrichment is a part of the organically grown process which is driven by consumers; the broiler houses must have large windows to allow natural light to be in the houses and the birds must have access to enrichment tools both inside and outside of the houses. Outside of the houses, the birds on the farm have a fenced in area for the birds to roam and have natural shade for the birds to hide in. While inside, the broilers have enrichment ramps and bully boxes for them to “play” with. However, with the enrichment comes many risks, as when the birds are let outside, the flock in the house risks obtaining avian influenza that is transmitted from overhead migrating birds. From this experience, many things can be learned especially those unfamiliar with the organic farm and poultry farms in general.
Throughout this experience, I learned Ms. Cortanza and other poultry farmers, specifically organic poultry farmers, take on many risks to grow the most amount of poultry in a short period of time; as throughout this process, they may encounter predators from the outdoor space and the chance of the birds obtaining avian influenza which could cause the number in the flock to decrease dramatically. Also, throughout this experience, I learned something that grabbed my interest and that was the use of technology that Ms.Cortanza used that most poultry growers did not. Ms. Cortanza uses the in-vessel composter which allows her to produce more efficient and reliable manure that can help famers dramatically with their crops growth. I also discovered that the organic poultry industry was driven by consumers to increase their probability of purchasing the product. For example, the enrichment tools on Ms. Cortanza’s farm and many other poultry farms, were created and placed on the farm to create a “happy” behavioral environment for chickens which makes consumers feel better and more likely to purchase the chicken due to knowing the chickens were produced in a good environment. Overall this experience was very interesting and educating as the knowledge Ms. Cortanza provided myself and the other students within the understanding todays ag class is very important and can be used in the future to help educate others about the poultry industry and in our purchases for that specific product.
Poultry Farm
Georgie Cartanza owns and runs an organic chicken farm here in Delaware. In her 4, 65’ wide and 600’ long chicken houses, she can have up to 148,000 chickens at once, which can feed about 59,808 people a year! Being in the state of Delaware means that her farm is very close to a huge percentage of the American population, meaning the cost of transporting the chickens is much lower than in other places in the country, and the meat is fresher. Less transportation means less fuel which also keeps the carbon footprint of the birds lower.
But how does she raise these chickens? What makes them organic? A huge help in keeping the chickens healthy and comfortable is the technology she has on her farm. Large control panels keep tabs on everything that is happening, from the humidity to the temperature in each house. From these panels Georgie can adjust the temperature and humidity with ease. Her organic chickens must be fed GMO free, organic feed and must have access to the outdoors, which also must be organically certified. Her chicken houses have windows to allow in natural light and she must have the proper documentation to certify her chickens as organic.
Delaware’s Green Industry – Tracy Wooten & Valann Budischak
On October 17th 2018, me and my class were lucky enough to receive a guest lecture presented by Tracy Wooten and Valann Budischak on the greens industry in Delaware. Being a landscape architecture major I was very interested in all the information that they had to share with us. Before this lecture I was unaware of how extensive the greens industry is and all that it encompasses. The greens industry had a total product sale of $21,774,000 in 2014, which is a pretty substantial source of income for those in the field. I was also unaware of the differences in crop groups, those two crop groups being floriculture crops and nursery crops. The greens industry is also expanding as a whole after going from $16,615,000 to the total product sale in 2014.
One of the largest sections of the greens industry is landscape design and maintenance. Many people are unaware of all the tasks that landscapers perform on a daily basis, which include mowing, invasive control, fertilization, hardscaping, stormwater management, lighting, irrigation, water features, and tree health to name a few.
Some of the important greens industry associations are The Delaware Nursery and Landscape Association, as well as the Delaware Livable Lawns, which are two companies that lookout for the well-being those involved professionally in the greens industry as well as the consumers that are directly affected by changes to the green industry.
After this guest lecture our class is now much more informed on how integral the greens industry is to the economy and the well-bent of those that live in Delaware.
Food Safety
Food safety is a growing concern in the American community as well as on a worldwide scale. The top six pathogens that contribute to domestically acquired food borne illnesses include, norovirus, salmonella, escheichia coli, clostridium perfringens, campylobacter species, and staphylococcus aureus. Every year one in six Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 people die from food-borne illnesses every year. Although these numbers can be scary, no vegetable or fruit outbreaks of food borne illnesses in Delaware since 1968.
The food categories that are most commonly implicated with food borne illnesses are fish, mollusks, dairy(unpasteurized), pork, chicken, and vegetables. Some of the most recent national incidents of food borne illnesses are spinach in California in 2006, cantaloupes in Colorado in 2011, and lettuce/other greens in 2014.
Everyone wants safe food, and because of that the The Food Safety Modernization Act(FSMA) was made, and made food go from minimum regulation to super regulated. Good Handling Practices(GHP) and Good Agricultural Practices(GAP) are very important to ensuring the safety of food that is presented to consumers. The Food and Drug Administration are in charge of developing science-based standards and regulations for growing, harvesting, packing, holding, and transport. There are five major routes of contamination which include agricultural water, farm worker hygiene, manure and other bio-additions, animals in the growing area, and equipment.
The goals of the FSMA are to improve public health by strengthening food safety, prevent food safety problems vs. reacting to problems after they occur, law provides FDA with new enforcement designed to achieve higher rates of compliance with prevention, it gives FDA tools to hold imported foods to the same standards of domestic foods, and builds an integrated national food safety system working with federal, state, and local authorities.
Food safety is incredibly important as a consumer and producer of agricultural products in regards to the wellbeing of people and the reputation of the agricultural industry.