| Valley farmers gobble up processing plant
Virginia Business
November 2004
When
Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. announced in April that
it was closing its poultry processing plant in Hinton,
it looked like the livelihoods of hundreds of Shenandoah
Valley turkey growers might go with it. But instead
the growers pooled their money, lobbied government officials
for additional funding, and in September bought the
plant for an undisclosed price. The reported asking
price was $35 million.
The Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative, the official
name of the new owners’ venture, will start processing
meat at the plant on Nov. 29. “Our initial goal
is to get the doors open and make it profitable,”
says Cecil “Sonny” Meyerhoeffer, president
of the co-op, which consists of 134 turkey grower members
and a management team of executives from such major
poultry players as Wampler and WLR Foods.
The co-op bought only the plant and not Pilgrim’s
Pride’s local hatchery and breeding divisions,
which were also on the market. That doesn’t bode
well for the 1,100-plus employees laid off by Pilgrim’s
Pride after September’s sale. Meyerhoeffer expects
the co-op to hire back just 450 workers before processing
resumes, but he says that that number could increase
if new products are added, such as labeling and packaging
for other turkey retailers.
Return to Virginia Business - November 2004
|
