Grower contracts, as pioneered by Tyson, are essentially non-negotiable. Many contract farmers are attracted by the promise that they will own the facilities one day. The problem is that the buildings last at most 15 years and the equipment half as long, according to research by North Carolina State University agricultural economist Kelly Zering. Only a mountain of debt and the environmental liability of huge waste lagoons. The corporation supplies the chickens or hogs, the medication, the feed and the only market.
Growers have no say over the quality of supplies they receive or the schedules they follow.
They usually have no recourse when headquarters underweighs feed or hogs. But with homes and families on the line, most just put up with it and cash their paychecks. Contract farmers thus become only glorified animal factory janitors. What economists can't measure High opportunity costs also hobble those communities that don't succeed in keeping out corporate factories. Once CAFOs start spreading their manure in an area, people who might have bought a home locally or built a business will take their money elsewhere.