Mary Clouse is the Joan of Arc of the chicken industry.

Did you know that chickens are raised by over 50,000 contract poultry farmers—not by the huge processing companies whose names appear on the packaged birds you buy?

Mary Clouse and her husband John were poultry farmers struggling to fulfill a contract that she describes as placing huge demands on growers, while absolving the processor of any responsibility. When she spoke up for a more evenly balanced agreement, the company cut the Clouses off. They lost their entire investment in equipment, birds and buildings—they were out of business.

Instead of accepting the injustice, Mary Clouse began a drive to organize growers. Frightened and worried, they warned her not to drive back roads alone at night and to be sure there was fire insurance on the house. A major processing corporation circulated a letter to field supervisors, calling her a “shady character” they should not deal with. John Clouse tried to convince his wife they should just move on with their lives.

But Mary Clouse could not accept the reality that thousands of other contract poultry farmers were in jeopardy from unfair contracts and high-handed dealings. She worked day and night to get farmers working together to negotiate with the processing corporations.

In the early days of her campaign, she sent out mailings to growers in random-sized envelopes with fake return addresses so no one would harass the receivers. Some of the first growers to join the organization lost their contracts and went broke.

Still, her endless hours of organizing have worked: today the National Contract Poultry Growers Association speaks for over 40,000 growers, and they are being heard. Mary Clouse says of them: “Every poultry farmer that has joined this new association is a Giraffe—they’ve stuck their necks out big time.”