McClatchy Newspapers
MERCED, Calif. — In the parking lot of Merced High School, about 25 students gathered recently around a metal cage filled with rubber chickens.
The teenagers — some wide-eyed, others sporting glazed looks — listen as C.J. Brantley, spokesman for poultry giant JS West Milling Co., describes the cage.
"This is a scaled-down model of our commercial barn," he tells the teens. "As you can see, there's plenty of space to move. They can move around. They can move in every direction."
The presentation is part of an agriculture earth science class curriculum in which. . .

