Poultry farms are straining Oklahoma’s water.
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When misinformation spread at the Oklahoma Capitol, Investigate Midwest reporter Juan Vassallo followed the story south and uncovered how industrial poultry farms are draining Oklahoma’s water supply. Here’s his take below.
Dec. 9, 2025
During a March committee hearing at the Oklahoma Capitol, I heard a senator claim that “illegal” Vietnamese poultry farmers were opening factory farms in the southeast corner of the state. He was pitching a bill to limit poultry farm expansion — a proposal he said came from local residents.
When I traveled to McCurtain County, I found something different. The real concern wasn’t “illegal” farmers — it was water. People were worried about the growing number of poultry farms drawing heavily from their local aquifer.
That led me to dig deeper. I filed a records request with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture for all poultry feeding operations in the state and, with the help from my assistant editor, combined that data with aquifer maps from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. I found that 59 poultry farms in southeast Oklahoma — almost all of them operated by Tyson Foods — sit atop a regulated aquifer.
But through interviews with OWRB officials, I learned that the poultry industry had successfully lobbied in the past to allow unlimited water use, even from aquifers meant to be protected.
After months of reporting, research and interviews, I uncovered how weak oversight and industry influence threaten one of Oklahoma’s most vital natural resources — fresh water. One McCurtain County resident challenging a proposed 12-house chicken farm next to his property used data from my story in his case. This work helped empower him. That’s impact.
The story also shows something important: that people in conservative, rural communities care deeply about their environment — even when their representatives resort to misinformation instead of addressing the real problem.
If there were more reporters covering communities like this, stories like mine might not be the exception — they’d be the rule. But in rural Oklahoma, where local papers have vanished after years of cutbacks and consolidation, important issues can unfold with no one watching — unless we’re there to tell them.
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With gratitude,
Oklahoma-based reporter, Investigate Midwest
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