Federal officials visited Harrisonburg today/Tuesday to announce funding from the American Rescue Plan Act that has been awarded to a local poultry processor. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Farmer Focus in Harrisonburg processes organic chicken raised by 80 local farmers. On Tuesday, their facility hosted the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh, and Senator Tim Kaine for a panel discussion.
As Bronaugh, a James Madison University alum, noted –
JEWEL BRONAUGH: Poultry is the number one commodity in the state of Virginia, and we're indeed in poultry country here.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the enterprise a $3.6 million grant to expand their facilities.
Founder Corwin Heatwole said that –
CORWIN HEATWOLE: This will help us relieve the vast bottlenecks that we have to allow us to take both facilities to full capacity, which will allow us to expand to about 650,000 chickens a week.
Unlike most large poultry companies, the growers that work with Farmer Focus own their birds and sell them to the processor for a set price. They're required to meet organic and humane standards, but otherwise, make all the decisions on their farms.
Peyton Fravel raises more than 200,000 chickens a year on the farm he bought from his grandparents.
PEYTON FRAVEL: Farmer Focus was sustainable enough to make it – somebody my age, they can farm full-time and not have to go work a job off-site. … It's more of a partnership.
The company has 875 employees, with most of them working on the production side. Construction on the expansion is slated to begin this fall, and once complete, they anticipate adding about 300 new positions.
