My wife and I run a small farm and one of our products is organic, pasture raised chicken. All of our birds spend the majority of their lives out on fresh grass in the sunshine and our never exposed to any antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides.
The difference that a bit of exposure to green forage in an outdoor environment makes, both to the flavour and texture of the chicken, is AMAZING. Industrial broiler barn chicken pales in comparison.
I'd encourage anyone seeking to buy a more environmentally friendly chicken to try to make contact with a local organic farmer who's able to raise his birds outside and in a humane fashion.
I live in Canada so I can't compare directly to a USDA Organic chicken. However, based on a chicken one could get from Whole Foods, for example, our bird has a much richer flavour and a firmer, less rubbery texture. This part is very subjective, of course, but in a side-by-side comparison you would definitely be able to taste and feel the difference.
We also raise our birds to be much heavier than a store bought bird - on average about six pounds after processing vs three-ish pounds in the store. I'd wager that your meat-to-carcase ratio is probably higher for one of our birds, giving a better value. (Actually, it's better value regardless - we sell our birds for $4/lb vs $5/lb for the broiler barn organic birds in the store.)
Environmentally, there's less concentration of pollutants. All of the chicken manure goes straight on the grass and is a primo source of nutrients for subsequent hay crops. For me it's a win - I don't have to apply fertilizer nor clean out chicken barns.
Coming from an animal welfare standpoint, just because you're buying "organic" chicken in the store, doesn't mean they've been raised in a humane fashion. I carry no guilt in eating our chickens. They're not overcrowded, debeaked or in a dusty, foul smelling environment. They live as well as I can provide up until the day they go for slaughter.
The difference that a bit of exposure to green forage in an outdoor environment makes, both to the flavour and texture of the chicken, is AMAZING. Industrial broiler barn chicken pales in comparison.
I'd encourage anyone seeking to buy a more environmentally friendly chicken to try to make contact with a local organic farmer who's able to raise his birds outside and in a humane fashion.