Author: AdBarefootmin

Tennessean Newspaper Mar. 20, 2011 Written by Anne Paine RED BOILING SPRINGS, Tenn. — Jeff Poppen’s chickens followed him as he carried a bucket of grain across one of his organic fields at Long Hungry Creek Farm last week. Above them, atop a steep hill just behind Poppen’s fruit and vegetable gardens, stood a pile…

I spoke of this video in a previous post. This is the best view most of us will ever get inside one of these operations. While I am confident this was filmed in a brand new, spotless clean chicken house, it does reveal many of the practices which seem to make this industry more of…

This time we met at the Justice Center in Lafayette. We would like to thank them for allowing us to use their facilities for this meeting. Our keynote speaker, A.T. Terry, had to cancel due to a family emergency. A.T. spoke at our last meeting too. An agricultural economist who was a contract farmer for…

We met at 6pm at Lafayette Jr High School.  Heavy rains and wind were called for, and weather broadcasters around middle TN were recommending that people don’t leave their homes.  Several local championship sporting events were canceled for fear of extreme weather.  With all that, its hard to say whether the attendance was affected by…

In anticipation of the public meeting this week, we invited channel 2 to come out and interview Jeff.  They aired a short segment on Monday evening. Sorry about the ad before the story, it’s out of my control.

On Feb. 7, Jeff proposed a resolution to the Macon County Commissioners meeting This is what the Macon County Times printed about the resolution: Jeff Poppen, also known as the “Barefoot Farmer”, was given permission by [Mayor Shelby] Linville to speak to commissioners Monday night.  Poppen raised concerns about a proposed chicken house that is…

We are starting a non-profit (501 c-3) to raise money for our legal and PR battles.  We need someone to run this organization, with the primary responsibility being the collection of and accounting for donations. We also need a PR team, and while there will surely be room for inexperienced people with a desire to…

In order for Lundy Russell (the neighbor building the chicken houses) to build a functioning CAFO, he must get a water permit from TDEC (TN Department of Energy & Conservation). This step in the process gave us the opportunity to weigh in with a state official- Paul Davis. By requesting this permit be categorized as…

Before we get into this subject, I have to make a couple of corrections. We have been operating under the assumption that Jeff’s neighbor already signed the contract with Cobb. We now believe that he has not signed the contract yet. This makes it more likely that we can resolve this issue without resorting to…

We have been gathering information, and while there is much more left to gather, I wanted to update everyone on where things stand. Jeff met with his neighbor, who already signed a contract to raise these chickens for Cobb-Vantress, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyson.  He will be raising two barns just 400…

Jeff has just learned that the neighbor up the hill behind his house has made a deal to put two industrial chicken houses on his land. For whatever reason, the location chosen was next to the property line and on the same side of the hill that runs off into Jeff’s place. The threat of…