Chapter 19 - MYTH: The air exhausted from poultry houses will damage property and cause health concerns.

The adoption of the tunnel ventilation system for poultry houses, which places all of the exhaust fans at one end of the house and concentrates the exhausted air, has led to the perception that these fans can cause problems for neighbors.

The purpose of the tunnel ventilation system is to bring more fresh air into the house and move it through at a faster rate to cool the birds. These systems have been very successful in reducing the negative effects of hot weather on the growth and mortality of birds. The exhausted air from tunnel ventilation fans, however, only extends about 50 feet from the houses before it is dispersed into the atmosphere. Providing reasonable set-back separations from property lines and dwellings will ensure that operating these ventilation systems will not adversely impact neighbors.

What are reasonable set-back distances for poultry houses? Years of experience in poultry producing counties can provide some help in answering this question. Some of our highest concentrations of poultry farms are located in counties in north Georgia. These same counties have also experienced very significant urbanization over the years. Many of these counties have adopted ordinances requiring set-backs for poultry houses of 200 feet from property lines and 500 feet from dwellings as part of their zoning regulations. These distances, in most cases, have provided more than reasonable protection for all parties involved while allowing small farmers the opportunity to operate poultry farms successfully. In addition to set-back measures, poultry farms can also use vegetative buffers and diversion fences near the exhaust fans to reduce air and dust movement when deemed necessary.

The issue of set-backs from property lines and dwellings for poultry houses is an important one. In many cases, opponents of poultry house construction have advocated the need for excessive and unreasonable set-back requirements to severely restrict or totally eliminate building because of the large amount of land needed to comply. For example, requiring a 1,500 foot set-back for construction of a poultry house would require more than 260 acres to site an average size broiler operation. A set-back of 4,000 feet would require more than 1,600 acres to build houses. In many of Georgia’s counties, 1,500 feet would eliminate more than 80 percent of the poultry production operations and could cause concentration of production with the largest, most wealthy landowners. Since air does not move far from the exhaust fans, and most of the odor associated with poultry production does not come from the production house but rather from the occasional application of the litter, 200-foot set-backs from property lines and 500-foot set-backs from dwellings for poultry houses provide reasonable protection for neighbors.

Some will claim that air from poultry houses is the cause of health problems for certain people living in close proximity to a poultry farm. No evidence indicates that poultry farms pose any specific health risk to people in general. Poultry farms have been operated for more than 50 years in Georgia by thousands of farm families. The fact that these families have not experienced any significant health issues attributable to these operations would suggest that poultry farming is no more of a health risk than any other type of farming.