In some states “Independent” is a party, in others it mean unaffiliated.

That’s horrifying…and entirely unsurprising. :(

All of the comments about loss leader and factory scale vs. hobby farming are huge factors. Another is the predatory nature of poultry farming in the US. I don’t know about Costco, but the other major producers, like Tyson and Perdue, have an extremely abusive relationship with contract farmers.

https://sentientmedia.org/contract-farming-makes-corporations-rich-and-family-farmers-broke/