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Jeff Poppen’s chickens followed him as he carried a bucket of grain across one of his organic fields at Long Hungry Creek Farm last week.

Above them, atop a steep hill just behind Poppen’s fruit and vegetable gardens, stood a pile of dirt.

A neighbor is building two long, low houses to confine and grow 40,000 chicks in five-month cycles for Cobb-Vantress, a chicken breeding subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc.

The bulldozer’s work marked the beginning of a struggle between a farmer, who supplies organic produce seasonally to about 175 Nashville households and a few gourmet restaurants, and a mega-corporation that ships millions of eggs and chickens a week.

At the same time it’s a showdown between two little guys – the organic farmer, with about a dozen chickens, and his neighbor, who will be hosting the corporation’s operation.

That’s how it’s done in the big-time chicken industry.

The buildings will be bio-secure, the company says. Five-minute showers and special garb will be required on entry to control the possible spread of deadly bacteria or viruses with so many animals in close quarters.