Perdue Farms to consolidate chicken production in Pennsylvania

US-based chicken processing company Perdue Farms is consolidating production capabilities in Pennsylvania as part of its efforts to better cater to its customers.

The company will shut the Booth Creek Natural Chicken (BCNC) plant in Fredericksburg on or after 14 March, as well as a distribution centre in Denver.

Production at these sites will be moved to the company’s other facilities and the affected associates would transfer to other sites.

The company stated that considering long-term needs, it identified that the BCNC plant would require significant and costly upgrades, and even then, it would not overcome the physical limitations of the facility.

The move will not have any impact on the company’s organic live production in Pennsylvania; however, chicken production with the same local farmers, USDA certified organic feed ingredient suppliers and organic feed manufacturing, and local hatchery will continue as usual.

Perdue chairman Jim Perdue said: "These moves are part of an ongoing strategy to focus on premium brands and products in the USDA Process Verified All-Vegetarian Fed, No-Antibiotics-Ever, and Organic segments, while increasing efficiencies in an ever-more competitive marketplace."

Operations vice-president Lester Gray said: "As we increased our focus on premium brands and products, we freed up capacity across our supply chain, which lead us to look at how we could align our assets to more efficiently serve all of our customers."

The company plans to work with other growers in the region to transition them to organic production, and is contracting with Pennsylvania farmers for its breeder operation.

Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, and it owns PERDUE, HARVESTLAND and COLEMAN NATURAL and COLEMAN ORGANIC food brands.