For nearly half a century, poultry production was perceived as the “cash cow” for Alabama farmers. It provided a steady income and meshed well with other operations like cattle or row crops.But like all aspects of farming, poultry production has seen some drastic changes in the past few decades.Equipment is more sophisticated, and of course more expensive. Fuel and labor costs more. However, poultry producers don’t have as much control over changes they have to make in their operations. The integrator, who actually owns the chickens and the feed they eat, often dictates many of those.In broiler operations, farmers basically are paid for how much weight the birds gain while in their care. From that income, the farmer must retire the debt on his land and poultry houses plus the debt for the equipment necessary to operate his business such as heaters, fans, computers, feeders, a watering system, a generator, etc. The farmer also pays for the electricity and natural or propane gas used in the operation and any additional labor he hires to help him.And for the past few decades, income for the poultry industry has continued an upward trend in Alabama. More houses were built, more chickens were raised, and there were more exports of Alabama-grown poultry. But in recent years, that trend slowed, and in many cases, has caused the poultry farmer’s already-thin bottom line to shrink even smaller.During a recent meeting of the Alabama Farmers Federation’s State Poultry Committee, eight out of 10 members said they made less money during the past year than they did five years ago. While the reasons varied from more layout time between flocks to increased input costs and environmental regulations, the results were the same–less money in the farmer’s pocket.Tom Duncan of Butler County is a member of the Federation’s State Poultry Committee. He’s been growing pullets–young hens that eventually will be used in layer houses–for Sylvest Farm Inc. for 16 years. In the past, his time between flocks was only a week. Now, it’s usually three weeks, reducing the overall number of birds he raises each year.”Pullet growers are paid by the square footage of the house for the time you’ve got birds,” he said. “Right now, we’re four weeks between flocks. You don’t get paid when you don’t have birds. A lot of my expenses are the same, and it’s really cutting into my budget.”Dorman Grace, a poultry farmer in Walker County, said he’s seen cycles come and go in the poultry business. His layout time used to be 10-14 days between flocks, now it’s increased to about three weeks.”It could result in the loss of an entire flock in a year’s time,” Grace said. “But you could regain it next year. I’m also growing bigger birds, which causes my expenses to go up. It costs more to keep bigger birds cool.”Grace said he hasn’t lost money in the poultry business in 20 years, but for the past five years he’s seen his income drop. He attributes it to a saturated domestic market and shrinking export markets.”I hope the government will realize that we need these export markets,” Grace said. “(The U.S.) will still be in the chicken business, but there will be fewer of us. Eventually, my houses will be out of date or it will be cost prohibitive for me to update them. Then I’ll be replaced by a newer grower. That’s the cycle that’s always been around, but now we have even more pressure from environmental regulations. It’s not an easy business.”Several factors contributed to the oversupply of poultry, much of it is the fact that the industry just “grew too fast,” according to Johnny Adams, executive director of the Alabama Poultry & Egg Association (AP&EA).”Consumption grew at a tremendous rate for nearly two decades and at the same time the export market was growing at a fast rate,” Adams said. “Now, there’s been a saturation of the market, not to mention the downturn in the export market.”Take Russia for example, exports to that country were about 40 percent of our export market and they completely shut us out for several months last year, and now they’re placing all kinds of tariffs and restrictions on our poultry. I don’t know how much longer we can stay in this spiral.”Adams, who has served as executive director of AP&EA for eight years, said he’s never seen such tough times–for the producer and the integrators.”It’s the first time I’ve seen plants close,” Adams said. “Most of these companies are publicly owned and their stockholders expect to make a profit from their investment. That’s just not happening right now, and they’re trying to hold on until things turn around. My fear is that some of the smaller companies won’t be able to hang on until that happens. I’m afraid we’re going to see some of these companies go away.”Considering poultry is the state’s largest agricultural industry, with just over $2 billion in cash receipts in 2001, a reduction in income has a trickle down effect throughout the state, Adams said.”This effects our entire economy,” Adams said. “I’ve actually seen (poultry processing and feed mill) plants closing in our state. I can’t recall a time when that’s happened before.”Adams said increasing pressures from environmental groups and low-cost labor from third-world countries also have had an adverse affect on the nation’s poultry production.”We’re forced to sell our product on a international market competing with countries that don’t have to abide by environmental regulations that we have in the United States,” Adams said. “Those same countries have laborers who work for pennies a day–they don’t have a minimum wage law. Yet, we have to sell our product in the same market, but they have a fraction of the input costs we do.”Dr. Gene Simpson, an extension economist with Auburn University, doesn’t predict an increase in production for Alabama poultry any time soon because of market conditions as well as environmental pressures and urban sprawl.”We could see what happened in the ag chemical companies a few years ago, happen in the poultry industry,” Simpson said. “There were a lot of mergers as competition became more keen. We are probably going to see a lot of the smaller companies go out of business or either be bought up by larger, more diverse companies.”