A wet September delayed the construction of the Lincoln Premium Poultry complex in Fremont, Nebraska, but the process is now progressing nicely, a spokeswoman for the company said.
The complex, which is to include a poultry processing plant, a hatchery and a feed mill. All of the poultry products processed at the plant are to be sold at stores operated by Costco Wholesale Corporation.
Lincoln Premium Poultry Community Relations Manager Jessica Kolterman told US92 that a large amount of rain fell in the Fremont area in September, and as a result, construction progress slowed down for about two months. However, now that the ground has dried out, construction activity is picking up again and the company is aiming at a new completion date of June 2019. The previous anticipated date of completion was April 2019.
Kolterman said that a parking lot has been paved and a crane is on site for the construction of the feed mill. “That will be the first thing to go up, and you’ll start to see that here shortly,” she said of the mill.
The hatchery will be the last of the structures to be built, she added.
To support the future Lincoln Premium Poultry complex, a network of contract growers will be needed, and each grower is expected to have a minimum of 4 poultry houses. The permitting process for contract farmers has begun in at least one county in Nebraska.
The company has also signed an order with Marel Poultry to provide the processing equipment for the future poultry plant. When the poultry plant is fully operational, it is expected to process about two million chickens a week, and will have the capacity to process about a third of the raw and rotisserie chicken products sold at Costco stores across the United States.
