Foster Farms is planning to construct a new organic feed mill to be located next to its conventional feed mill in Tulare County, California.
According to a report from the Visalia Times-Delta, the California-based poultry company has obtained a $15.8 million building permit to build the mill in an effort to expand the availability of organic chicken as demand for organic and antibiotic-free poultry products continues to grow. The company presently raises chickens on organic feed in Tulare, California, and with the new feed mill, other farms are expected to become involved in organic poultry production.
The new feed mill is expected to employ 15 additional workers.
Foster Farms, headquartered in Livingston, California, processed 20.13 million pounds of ready to cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2014, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database. Its chicken brands include Foster Farms, Coastal Range and Open Nature.
Foster Farms is also one of the top turkey companies in the United States, having slaughtered 247 million pounds of live turkeys in 2014. Its turkey brands include Foster Farms and Valchris.
The Foster Farms organic feed mill project was one of nine in the county recently highlighted by the Tulare County Economic Development Department at a recent meeting.
