WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 - New Use for Poultry Manure That Could Save Waterways

New Use for Poultry Manure That Could Save Waterways

10/25/2005

SEAFORD- Allen Family Foods of Seaford has a new solution to a smelly problem. It will be the first poultry company on Delmarva to turn some of the area's 700,000 tons of manure a year into fuel.

The aim is to keep that manure out of Delmarva's waterways. Allen's new system will burn through about 12,000 tons of that litter a year. It will heat the litter into a steam to cook their its chickens' inedible parts.

Michael Pilcher, Allen's vice president of operations, said it will help farmers ease up on the amount of fertilizer they put on the ground.

"Long-term, the growth of the industry on the Eastern Shore will be capped," Pilcher said. "If we don't have other places to go, there's only so much land and so much nitrogen and phosphorus we can put on the land."

Right now, farmers put chicken waste on their fields. Farmers from any of Delmarva's 5,100 chicken houses will be able to sell their litter for use by Allen's JCR Enterprises rendering plant in Linkwood, located in Dorchester County. 

The company hopes to have it ready by next September.