Environmental Injustice and Industrial Chicken Farming in Maryland

Jonathan Hall, Joseph Galarraga, Isabelle Berman, Camryn Edwards, Niya Khanjar, Lucy Kavi, Rianna Murray, Kristen Burwell-Naney, Chengsheng Jiang and Sacoby Wilson
Additional contact information
Jonathan Hall: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Joseph Galarraga: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Isabelle Berman: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Camryn Edwards: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Niya Khanjar: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Lucy Kavi: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Rianna Murray: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Kristen Burwell-Naney: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Chengsheng Jiang: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Sacoby Wilson: School of Public Health, College Park, University of Maryland, 4200 Valley Dr, College Park, MD 20742, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: Maryland’s growing chicken industry, including concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and meat processing plants, raises a number of concerns regarding public health and environmental justice. Using hot spot analysis, we analyzed the totality of Maryland’s CAFOs and meat processing plants and those restricted to the Eastern Shore to assess whether communities of color and/or low socioeconomic status communities disproportionately hosted these types of facilities at the census tract level. We used zero-inflated regression modeling to determine the strength of the associations between environmental justice variables and the location of CAFOs and meatpacking facilities at the State level and on the Eastern Shore. Hot spot analyses demonstrated that CAFO hot spots on the Eastern Shore were located in counties with some of the lowest wealth in the State, including the lowest ranking county—Somerset. Zero-inflated regression models demonstrated that increases in median household income across the state were associated with a 0.04-unit reduction in CAFOs. For every unit increase in the percentage of people of color (POC), there was a 0.02-unit increase in meat processing facilities across the state. The distribution of CAFOs and meat processing plants across Maryland may contribute to poor health outcomes in areas affected by such production, and contribute to health disparities and health inequity.

Keywords: environmental justice; confined animal feeding operations; people of color; disparities; poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11039/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11039/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11039-:d:660920

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().