It's serious for many of the area's poultry growers, a major player in the local economy, because the poultry business has been hit by rising production costs.

In a sign of how challenging the situation has become, several poultry growers got together Tuesday night to find out more about filing for bankruptcy protection.

Edwin Hamilton runs a farm in Hardy County and is struggling to afford payments on his poultry houses.

"Well, you have to choose what to pay," says Hamilton.

The cost to heat his chicken houses is just one of many things rising. Feed is up as well.

On the other hand, Hamilton says what's not rising is the money he gets to grow birds.

He says, "We cannot make our payments. Then, we're going to have to do something we don't like to do."

He says filing for bankruptcy protection is a realistic possibility.

A bankruptcy attorney talked to members of the Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias during a regular meeting in Baker.

The association's president, Mike Weaver, says it's because Hamilton's story is not unique.

"We have historical documents that show that, back as far as 1975, growers were making more money than they are today," says Weaver.

The businesses these growers contract with have faced their own challenges.

For example, Pilgrim's Pride filed for and later re-emerged from bankruptcy protection. Several companies have also gone through layoffs.

Hamilton wonders if, like those who have gone through layoffs, he'll have to find new work too.

"As good as the poultry business has been years ago, I didn't think it would ever become as bad [as] It is now for the growers," says Hamilton.

Hamilton and his family have been in the poultry business for decades. He says, since the 1980s, his costs have gone up as much as 500 percent, but the money he makes from selling his birds hasn't gone up anywhere near as much.