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An east Texas farming family is reaping the benefits after transitioning from industrial chicken farming to growing hemp.

For 30 years, the Halley family in Cookville raised chickens but in 2019 they started working with the nonprofit Transfarmation Project and transitioned into growing hemp.

Morgan Deany's grandfather started the business. She said over time, they realized they wanted to give back to people and animals.

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"The living conditions for the animals are unhealthy," Deany explained. "It's hard for people to actually even work in that environment. It comes with awful lung infections and just all kinds of things."

The Halleys also operate an animal sanctuary on the land. The Let Love Live organization provides rehabilitation for donkeys.

The 13 chicken houses on the Halley farm were located on 50 acres of land. As contract growers, the family raised six batches of chickens per year with more than 190,000 birds in each batch. Deany noted after decades of taking from the earth, they were ready to give something back.

"It feels good to do something positive," Deany emphasized. "To bring life back around and to do something positive for people and animals and show other people that there's other options other than this big industrial farming."

She added during the transition, they have noticed a reawakening of the land.

"As good as chicken manure is for the soil, when you're operating at such a high capacity like that it really strips a lot of the nutrients," Deany pointed out. "The hemp actually regenerates the soil and it puts nutrients back into the soil and it encourages all these other forms of wildlife to come around like birds and different bugs."