Chicken industry group reports $4.8 billion sales figure

Delmarva's chicken companies spent $1.3 billion on corn, wheat, soybeans and other feed ingredients in 2024, and paid their employees $902 million in wages, excluding benefits. The family farmers who contract with the companies to raise chickens earned $327 million in contract payments, or 1.8 percent more than in 2023 on an inflation-adjusted basis. A total of  1,206 farm families and 17,947 chicken company employees work in that sector of the economy.

Delmarva’s five chicken companies – Amick Farms, Allen Harim, Mountaire Farms, Perdue Farms and Tyson have a direct and induced economic impact of $17.4 billion on Delmarva, according to the National Chicken Council, and  pay $1.1 billion in state and local taxes. 

"In 2024, Delmarva's chicken community produced 4.6 billion pounds of chicken worth $4.8 billion, employed nearly 18,000 people and relied on more than 1,200 family farmers in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia's Delmarva’s chicken growers and companies have been able to produce more food today than in the past for a rapidly growing region, even while farmland is lost to development, and we’re doing it in an environmentally responsible way,” said Holly Porter, DCA’s executive director. “Last year, growers and businesses overcame multiple challenges to keep feeding America and the world, including inflation that made energy and farm equipment more expensive and the expense and hard work needed to keep our flocks safe from avian influenza. As a result, Delmarva continues to be a leader in the U.S. chicken industry.”

The industry faces pressures related to population growth near farms and the loss of farmland that can provide buffers, especially in Sussex County. Processors have also been dealing with wastewater issues along with the related issue of nitrogen and chemicals making its way into waterways. 

New housing with lawns   treated with fertilizers, septic systems and regional waste treatment plants  contribute to the excessive levels in inland bays, according to the Center for the Inland Bays.

The association also addresses the myth that the industry is expanding the number of chicken houses. Growers attribute that view to the replacements of agining buildings. Growth in production has been modest.