This thesis examines the impacts of the poultry industry in seven counties in the Piney Woods region of South Mississippi: Wayne, Jones, Forrest, Lamar, Jefferson Davis, Marion, and Pike. Current research indicates that the poultry industry has a significant impact on the cultures and economies of rural towns throughout the United States. There is no current research that examines the effects of the poultry industry on residents of the Piney Woods. This thesis addresses that gap in the research and contributes to current understanding of how the industry molds and impacts the lives of those intimately associated with it.
I interviewed thirteen individuals for this research, including farmers, former processing plant employees, and an association leader in the professional poultry community. I used snowball sampling to locate and identify these respondents and I developed an open-ended interview guide to elicit conversation about their experiences. I used their testimony to address three primary research questions: 1) What are the sociocultural effects of the poultry industry in Mississippi? 2) How does the poultry industry influence the physical landscape of the Piney Woods? 3) How did Covid-19 impact the poultry industry in Mississippi? My research findings indicate that the poultry industry has significant influence over the culture and landscape of rural communities in Mississippi and throughout the Southeast United States. It is my hope that by researching the relationship between the poultry industry and the Piney Woods agricultural communities, we can better understand how the large-scale commercial industry impacts the economic backbone of Mississippi.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis examines the impacts of the poultry industry in seven counties in the Piney Woods region of South Mississippi: Wayne, Jones, Forrest, Lamar, Jefferson Davis, Marion, and Pike. Current research indicates that the poultry industry has a significant impact on the cultures and economies of rural towns throughout the United States. There is no current research that examines the effects of the poultry industry on residents of the Piney Woods. This thesis addresses that gap in the research and contributes to current understanding of how the industry molds and impacts the lives of those intimately associated with it.</p> <p>I interviewed thirteen individuals for this research, including farmers, former processing plant employees, and an association leader in the professional poultry community. I used snowball sampling to locate and identify these respondents and I developed an open-ended interview guide to elicit conversation about their experiences. I used their testimony to address three primary research questions: 1) What are the sociocultural effects of the poultry industry in Mississippi? 2) How does the poultry industry influence the physical landscape of the Piney Woods? 3) How did Covid-19 impact the poultry industry in Mississippi? My research findings indicate that the poultry industry has significant influence over the culture and landscape of rural communities in Mississippi and throughout the Southeast United States. It is my hope that by researching the relationship between the poultry industry and the Piney Woods agricultural communities, we can better understand how the large-scale commercial industry impacts the economic backbone of Mississippi.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Watts, Sara"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["David Cochran","Dana Fennell","Joby Bass"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-12-08T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-12-08T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z","subjects":["poultry","Mississippi","broiler industry","poultry farming","ethnographic study","geography","Human Geography"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/940","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["David Cochran","Dana Fennell","Joby Bass"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Watts, Sara"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-12-08T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["poultry","Mississippi","broiler industry","poultry farming","ethnographic study","geography","Human Geography"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/940"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis examines the impacts of the poultry industry in seven counties in the Piney Woods region of South Mississippi: Wayne, Jones, Forrest, Lamar, Jefferson Davis, Marion, and Pike. Current research indicates that the poultry industry has a significant impact on the cultures and economies of rural towns throughout the United States. There is no current research that examines the effects of the poultry industry on residents of the Piney Woods. This thesis addresses that gap in the research and contributes to current understanding of how the industry molds and impacts the lives of those intimately associated with it.
I interviewed thirteen individuals for this research, including farmers, former processing plant employees, and an association leader in the professional poultry community. I used snowball sampling to locate and identify these respondents and I developed an open-ended interview guide to elicit conversation about their experiences. I used their testimony to address three primary research questions: 1) What are the sociocultural effects of the poultry industry in Mississippi? 2) How does the poultry industry influence the physical landscape of the Piney Woods? 3) How did Covid-19 impact the poultry industry in Mississippi? My research findings indicate that the poultry industry has significant influence over the culture and landscape of rural communities in Mississippi and throughout the Southeast United States. It is my hope that by researching the relationship between the poultry industry and the Piney Woods agricultural communities, we can better understand how the large-scale commercial industry impacts the economic backbone of Mississippi.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Impacts of the Poultry Industry In Mississippi"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["David Cochran","Dana Fennell","Joby Bass"],"dc:creator":["Watts, Sara"],"dc:date.available":["2022-12-08T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis examines the impacts of the poultry industry in seven counties in the Piney Woods region of South Mississippi: Wayne, Jones, Forrest, Lamar, Jefferson Davis, Marion, and Pike. Current research indicates that the poultry industry has a significant impact on the cultures and economies of rural towns throughout the United States. There is no current research that examines the effects of the poultry industry on residents of the Piney Woods. This thesis addresses that gap in the research and contributes to current understanding of how the industry molds and impacts the lives of those intimately associated with it.
I interviewed thirteen individuals for this research, including farmers, former processing plant employees, and an association leader in the professional poultry community. I used snowball sampling to locate and identify these respondents and I developed an open-ended interview guide to elicit conversation about their experiences. I used their testimony to address three primary research questions: 1) What are the sociocultural effects of the poultry industry in Mississippi? 2) How does the poultry industry influence the physical landscape of the Piney Woods? 3) How did Covid-19 impact the poultry industry in Mississippi? My research findings indicate that the poultry industry has significant influence over the culture and landscape of rural communities in Mississippi and throughout the Southeast United States. It is my hope that by researching the relationship between the poultry industry and the Piney Woods agricultural communities, we can better understand how the large-scale commercial industry impacts the economic backbone of Mississippi.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/940"],"dc:subject":["poultry","Mississippi","broiler industry","poultry farming","ethnographic study","geography","Human Geography"],"dc:title":["Impacts of the Poultry Industry In Mississippi"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z"}