On the other hand, if there are a lot of commercial chickens in the area, there is the ability for disease to spread to those backyard chickens and vis versa, so that gives incentive to increase biosecurity in the area. I know Ark. has a lot of chickens for comm. purposes, so there is that to think about. I think it isn't fair to limit the ability to have BY chickens, but at the same time, I wouldn't want my chickens always getting sick because of the airborne diseases from those plants.
I hope there is a middle ground that can be reached for those people.