Farm Progress America, October 21, 2024

Mike Pearson tells listeners about a bankruptcy filing by Pure Prairie Poultry that took contracted poultry growers by surprise.

Pure Prairie Poultry was once seen as a promising Midwest poultry processor. The headquarters were in Minnesota and the processing plant was located in Iowa.

Contract growers raise chicken in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

PPP secured $45 million in tax payer backed loans in 2022 to help expand the processing plant in Iowa.

However, PPP filed bankruptcy in late September leaving contract growers in a crisis.

PPP abruptly stopped paying for feed and other expenses for the contracted growers. This left farmers with hundreds of thousands of chickens and no support.

The situation got worse when the bankruptcy plans was dismissed due to objections from creditors leaving the processing plant to suddenly close.

In Iowa, the state stepped in to take care of the chickens and look for buyers.

However, producers in Minnesota and Wisconsin were not as lucky and have had to carry the financial burden which is costing them $20,000 a week to feed the birds.

Some producers have went as far as to post free birds on social media in an effort to keep them from starving.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness .

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