FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Some North Carolina farmers now have to kill their chickens due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said a farming company plans to euthanize 1.5 million chickens. So far, the company has gotten rid of about 500,000.

Officials said the reason is due to fewer employees in processing plants working after testing positive for the virus. If the work process inside meat plants doesn't change, officials said it could trickle down to other farmers statewide.

"I hope we get to a place where we don't have to do that," cashier Carra Royal at Family Farm Store said. "I hope it comes in a hurry because if they have to kill everything off, where are we going to start at? Because that's going to be baby chicks included."

Officials with the Department of Agriculture said they've seen farmers in other states killing millions of chickens and hogs due to the pandemic.