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.

Environmental Injustice and Industrial Chicken Farming in Maryland.

Maryland's growing chicken industry, including concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and meat processing plants, raises a number of concerns regarding public health and environmental justice. Using hot spot analysis, we analyzed the totality of Maryland's CAFOs and meat processing plants and those restricted to the Eastern Shore to assess whether communities of color and/or low socioeconomic status communities disproportionately hosted these types of facilities at the census tract level. We used zero-inflated regression modeling to determine the strength of the associations between environmental justice variables and the location of CAFOs and meatpacking facilities at the State level and on the Eastern Shore. Hot spot analyses demonstrated that CAFO hot spots on the Eastern Shore were located in counties with some of the lowest wealth in the State, including the lowest ranking county-Somerset. Zero-inflated regression models demonstrated that increases in median household income across the state were associated with a 0.04-unit reduction in CAFOs. For every unit increase in the percentage of people of color (POC), there was a 0.02-unit increase in meat processing facilities across the state. The distribution of CAFOs and meat processing plants across Maryland may contribute to poor health outcomes in areas affected by such production, and contribute to health disparities and health inequity.