MILFORD, Del. — The 40,000 chickens — a few short weeks from becoming Valu-Paks at the supermarket — scratched their way toward the rows of water drips, eager for a little midday sip. Eyeing an open door, one bird made a vague attempt to wander away, before it was gently returned to the brood.
Such prancing poultry rests at the center of a major trade dispute between the United States and South Africa, with large economic stakes, especially in states like Delaware, the birthplace of the American chicken industry.
For decades, in addition to chemicals (think DuPont) and corporate registrations, the state has been known for three other C’s: cards, cars and chickens. The car business has imploded, as manufacturers have closed operations. The card business — credit cards, that is — is humming.
The last C, chickens, accounts for only about 3 percent of the state’s jobs, but it is big where it is needed most, in the Delmarva Peninsula with Maryland and Virginia. Indeed, Sussex County is the nation’s biggest producer of meat chicken, and the future of this business rests in large part overseas, especially for the savory dark meat that is disfavored here but enjoyed abroad.
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The broiler industry has been nourished by the peninsula’s mild climate and sandy soil, both hospitable to chicken raising, and the local chicken knowledge developed over years by many small farmers with tiny but productive egg-laying farms. Farmers here raise chickens for some of the nation’s biggest names in the industry, like Perdue, Tyson and Mountaire.
While rising feed costs and environmental regulations took a toll on the business in the late 1990s, chickens are on the upswing again, said Mr. Postles, who raises 120,000 chickens several times a year. Foreign markets — which make up about 20 percent of the nation’s business now — are one reason.
“We keep growing people,” Mr. Postles said. “And we have a way of wanting to eat.”
