Environmental Injustice and Industrial Chicken Farming in Delaware

Potential disparities in the distribution of poultry CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) and meat-processing facilities across Delaware were explored with regards to sociodemographic factors including race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We conducted buffer analyses of CAFO host census tracts alongside sociodemographic data in order to explore populations in proximity to the Delaware chicken industry. We conducted a hotspot analysis of CAFOs to find areas with large concentrations of poultry operations and applied zero-inflation regression models to determine if there's a relationship between sociodemographic composition and number of CAFOs/meat- processing facilities in Delaware. Median household income was lower in CAFO host census tracts than all others, and also lower than the state median. A larger percentage of people living in poverty are in poultry CAFO hotspots (15.4 percent) compared to the state average (13.7 percent). Delaware's chicken industry disproportionately burdens low-wealth communities. Delaware policy-makers should employ environmental justice-oriented solutions to best serve impacted populations.