(Oakland, Iowa) –Western Iowa poultry producers are invited to a meeting about a poultry processing project on Thursday, March 9th at 6pm at the Oakland Community Center (614 Dr. Van Zee Rd., Oakland, IA 51560). Local farmers are working with Golden Hills RC&D to aggregate poultry for transport to a USDA-certified processor. The project was piloted last fall and the meeting will discuss future processing details and logistics.

The group will be coordinating a group purchase of chicks to be ready for processing on the same date this spring, and likely with follow-up dates after that. Birds would be picked up at two or three locations in Western Iowa and transported to a USDA-inspected facility in Eastern Nebraska. Kevin Ellis, Poultry Specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) will also be at the meeting to answer questions about poultry production.

Producers who join the project will have their birds shipped collectively to a USDA-certified processor in Southeast Nebraska, saving time and money while expanding market opportunities to various wholesale and retail outlets in Iowa and other states. Live birds will be transported to the processing facility using a local contracted hauling company. Processed birds will then be shipped via refrigerated truck to restaurants, stores, consumers, or a cold storage facility in Harlan, depending on the producers’ preferences.

Funding for this project was made possible by the Local Food Promotion Program managed by the Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, with matching funds from Golden Hills RC&D. For more information about the project, visit www.swiffi.org/poultry or contact Golden Hills RC&D at 712-482-3029 or lance@goldenhillsrcd.org.