Carole Morison Goes Free-Range After Food, Inc.
How partnering with Animal Welfare Approved brought back the joy of raising chickens
You may remember her as the woman who opened the doors of her broiler house to camera crews of Food, Inc. saying, “It’s just gotten to the point where it’s not right what’s going on. I’ve just made up my mind; I’m gonna say what I have to say… something has to be said.”
Carole Morison opened our eyes to a grisly scene the day that she opened her mouth (and her door). Armed with a mask she walks into a crowded broiler house; chickens are packed so tightly you hardly see the ground. You watch chickens fall over as she explains how the unnatural growth characteristics of the breed inhibit their bodies to actually function properly, incapacitating them to move more than a few feet. She picks up a handful of dead chickens saying, “That’s normal.”
Her courage to speak out, may have cost her a contract with Perdue, but what she gained far surmounts her loss. “Gosh, its been a trip,” she reflected, when Barnraiser had a chance to catch up with her about her upcoming project.
After spending twenty-three years under contract, 2008 marked somewhat of a jubilee year for Carole. She was finally set free to farm her land as she wished, but she let her barns lay empty for nearly three years while she took the steps toward this big change. “Through AWA, I had the opportunity to travel around the country and see what other folks were doing. I actually met Nigel Walker of Eatwell Farm and went to Soul Food Farm,” she reminisced. “When I saw their 4000 chickens running around in a pasture, I thought; Why couldn’t I do that?”
Morison’s farm in Pocomoke City, Maryland — self-branded “The friendliest town on the Eastern Shore” — is only about an hour’s drive from where the broiler industry finds its roots. In 1923, Mrs. Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware ordered fifty chicks in the mail to restock her flock of laying hens. Instead, she received 500 chicks by mistake, so she raised them and sold them for meat. Then along came Perdue; which actually started in free range pastures, but much has changed since then.
In a way, Carole has simply chosen to go back to the basics. This time time around, she chose to raise laying hens, rather than meat birds. “I didnt have any clue about raising hens because we raised meat birds for so long. When all the eggs came, I didn’t know what to do with them,” she said as she proceeded to laugh.
She was lucky enough to have Whole Foods make an offer for her eggs. The Animal Welfare Approvedcertified cartons, labelled with her Birds Eye View Farm logo, fly off the shelves and sell out every week now. On the AWA label, Morison confirmed, “This is the only food label that guarantees high-welfare production, outdoors on independent family farms — it’s a natural fit.”
Fortunately, Carole and her family were able repurpose much of the existing infrastructure equipment; the barns, automatic seeders, and waterers. The most difficult part for her was actually getting chicks and organic feed, because everything in the state of Maryland is industrial. “We get the chicks from New Mexico and the feed from Pennsylvania. It just goes to show how hard it is to be an independent farmer.”
Carole, her husband and her son (when he’s not working full-time) have their hands full with about 500 dozen eggs from their Rhode Island Reds, Delawares, and Barred Rock’s. It may still be hard work, but the change in practices has brought back the joy for farming for her, “Raising the animals is totally different, and it’s fun! Before it wasn’t fun. I used to have to get out there and pick up dead chickens. All these chickens are hearty breeds, with good genetics, back from when they didn’t have to live inside all the time… and they’re not dying all the time!”
Carole’s crowdfunding campaign on Barnraiser, in partnership with AWA (Animal Welfare Approved) launches on Tuesday, January 13th and runs through February 27th. The funds will help with costs to expand the size of her production. Beyond that, she hopes this project will inspire others to step out into independence, and make a positive impact on our food system.
“If you know farmers, they are kind of sitting on the fence with any new concept. It’s just kind of engrained that the big companies are going to put you out of business. People are scared to death about being independent, but it’s about taking that step.”
For Carole, that leap of faith brought back the most important thing about farming… the joy!
You can support her crowdfunding project on Barnraiser here: www.barnraiser.us/projects/carole-morison-goes-free-range
Barnraiser is the community powering the food movement, one project at a time. Our mission is to put a billion dollars into the hands of food innovators as they reshape a healthy food world. Join the movement and bring us your projects! Contact us: projects@barnraiser.us
