NOTTOWAY CO., Va. -- Nearly a year after poultry farmers in South Central Virginia were among those impacted by the closing of the Tyson Food processing plant in Glen Allen, a lifeline for some was announced Wednesday in Nottoway County with a decade-long egg production deal with an Indiana company.
"It's been a lot of work, but it's been rewarding after today," said John Bapties, one of the impacted farmers who helped get the deal done. "It's huge. There's two over 200 houses that are sitting empty right now because of the impact with the Tyson shutdown."
Following the closure, Bapties and several other farmers created the Central Virginia Poultry Cooperative to look for new opportunities for the 55 farms that had contracts with Tyson.
"We found out that the market was saturated," Bapties said of the type of chickens the raised, known as broilers.
He said they then connected with a cage-free egg company, Dutch Country Organics.
"We'll have a 10 year contract with the houses to put them back in production. The co-op, itself, have a 13-year contract but, Dutch has agreed to take on up to two million birds in two years. So it's very large," said Bapties. "Dutch Organics itself is a supplier for Kroger, Aldi, Walmart and they have a lot of production or distribution on the east coast. So, it made a good fit for us being here to expand their production here in Virginia."
Bapties said for the time, the eggs will be shipped directly to Indiana, but when there are one million birds in place among the current 12 farms in the co-op (with room for more) Dutch will begin looking to build a local processing facility.
Bapties was joined by local and state leaders and groups who have been working together to find new opportunities for the farmers, including the Commonwealth Regional Council, the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
"It's really a team effort today. It's about collaboration. So, many folks really chipped in to make this event happen. And especially the growers, they were the ones that really took the initiative," said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr. "Today is really one of the best days that I've had as Secretary because the government's role is to help. And I feel like there was such a devastating loss to this part of Virginia and to bring players together and Governor Youngkin was spearheading all of these efforts to help these farmers in the communities. And to see all of those efforts come together, to celebrate this, and the excitement for our largest industry in the Commonwealth."
Lohr said agriculture provides $80-billion a year in economic impact with poultry making up three of the top ten spots: chickens (1), turkeys (3), and eggs (10).
Officials said while the farmers making the switch to egg production will have to bear the costs of retrofitting their facilities, the state is providing nearly $1.8-million to the co-op to help its members with the upfront costs on the chickens themselves until they start laying eggs.
"It takes 18 weeks to raise a pullet to become a layer. So, you need funding to pay for feed, housing, pay the grower, and until you have a production 19 weeks later, that's where your income starts coming in," said Bapties.
The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation said it is also donating $500,000 in non-voting stock for the co-op to help get the project off the ground.
"The Virginia Farm Bureau's motto -- we used to have a tagline we used quite often 'Helping you is what we do best.' The current tagline is 'Friend of the Farm'. And I think both of those are very appropriate for this situation," said Senior Assistant Director Tony Banks.
Wednesday's announcement was held on the Nottoway County farm that has been in Tom Schaubach's family since his father founded it in 1979. He said the chicken houses on the property were only built in 2015.
"It was quite a shock," Schaubach said of the Tyson closure. He said his family's farm had been providing them while broilers since 1990. "We wish they were still here. But, we've got to take what's given to us and hopefully pick up and run again."
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Schaubach said he tips his hat to the co-op for doing getting the deal done.
"It means everything. I mean, we've got these houses and all this infrastructure sitting here doing absolutely nothing," said Schaubach.
And while the cost to switch production models is steep (between $600,000 to $1.5-million, he said), the family is hopeful for what it means in the long run.
"The conversion cost is extraordinary," said Schaubach's son-in-law, Bobb Bowen. "But, what other choice do you have? I mean, at this point, we will take whatever we get."
"To get it going again and to become a productive member of the economy in Central Virginia, Southside Virginia and actually produce something, it's just immeasurable," added Schaubach. "Going forward, I've got good feelings about it, really. And it's going to be a big change -- changing to eggs instead of broilers, but it's something that we can do."
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
