With a new plant opening in 2022, specialty poultry producer Shenandoah Valley Organic LLC is expanding and building on its unique business model.
Since its foundation in 2014, Shenandoah Valley Organic, doing business as Farmer Focus, continued to grow and expand. Now, it employs over 750 and contracts with 87 farms. The company is a 100% U.S. Department of Agriculture certified organic producer.
According to its response to the most recent WATT Top Broiler Companies survey, Farmer Focus produced 1.6 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2021. This ranks it as 29th largest integrator, in terms of weekly RTC production, among the nation’s top 32 poultry companies as identified by WATT Global Media in its annual report.
Farmer Focus’ business model differs from traditional contracts. It allows farmers to own their flocks and make decisions on raising chickens. The cost used in calculating the grower's payment is an average cost based on performance of all the growers. Each individual grower is paid the same amount per pound.
In alignment with its business model, the individual growers purchase chicks and feed from third-party hatcheries and feed mills, who Farmer Focus partners with, to leverage buying power.
Acorn plant
In 2022, a new, 78,000-square-foot retail packaging and storage facility began operations. The Acorn facility, located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, includes seven retail packaging lines. The new site also includes a wastewater pretreatment facility, as well as office areas, a training room, employee locker room and breakroom.
The site includes infrastructure for additional structures. CEO Corwin Heatwole said the company is planning an expansion of the Acorn facility, but the specific size is uncertain.
Six of the seven lines are dedicated to processing and packaging parts and the other is for whole birds. The plant uses six, horizontal form filled seal packaging lines from Reiser and a Cryovac bagger to increase packaging efficiency by using virtual stem pack and roll stock packaging.
Heatwole said the new plant minimizes the amount of packing material to lower the company’s environmental footprint.
Moreover, the plant exceeds environmental controls for pollution. It contains all stormwater, uses emission-free hygienic units to improve air quality in the plant and contains a roofed-in recycling and trash area. Farmer Focus also implements a cardboard reduction and recycling program at the plant.
Expanding production
Between the Acorn plant and Farmer Focus’ original, 90,000-square-foot plant in Harrisonburg the company processes about 400,000 birds per week with an average liveweight of about six pounds. Farmer Focus started processing birds in a former Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. facility in Harrisonburg it purchased in 2014. It began processing only organic birds in 2017.
“It’s a great thing to have a pipeline of farmers waiting to partner with us. That is a testament to the need for a model like ours,” Heatwole said. “Most companies largest hurdle is to find the farmers they need to partner with who are a great fit.”
Part of the growth and success of the company is due to its marketing efforts, led by its Chief Marketing Officer Kathryn Tuttle. Farmer Focus products are sold in major grocery retailers, online and the natural retailers throughout the East Coast and Midwest, including Kroger, Publix, Harris Teeter and Fresh Direct.
Heatwole credited the company’s investors for its expansion, too. Its investors own a percentage of the company and include firms S2G, Open Prairie, NRV and VTC Ventures, which have helped accelerate its growth since 2019. That year the company announced it closed a $15 million funding round.
Future
In the next five years, the company plans to build on its existing foundation. It will focus on sustainable practices, lowering operating costs, improving animal welfare and lowering its greenhouse gas footprint. Farmer Focus aims to help farms' viability and sustainability for the next generation.
Heatwole said the company is exploring how it can partner with local crop farmers to transition to organic and develop long-term relationships. To further this, Farmer Focus recently hired Matt Dillon as chief sustainability officer.
Dillon previously worked at Clif Bar & Co., where he led multiple functions, including agriculture programs and investments. He will work to scale pilots for multiple initiatives to de-risk the poultry supply chain while creating alternative revenue streams for farmers to achieve the mission of promoting and protecting generational family farms.
Heatwole was recently invited to the White House to participate in a roundtable panel discussion focusing on protecting generational family farmers. He was asked to speak about the company’s business model and how it can scale to continue promoting and protecting generational farmers while offering transparency.
“It was a privilege to be invited,” Heatwole said. “It’s a scalable model that could work in a lot of scenarios.”
Transparency in chicken supply chain can educate consumers www.WATTAgNet.com/articles/44144
