How to become a Poultry Processor

 “What I found was that most people didn’t want to butcher a chicken. They just want the chicken to appear on their plate or in their refrigerator or in a bag. So there were no processing facilities in the area so a group of us got together and we decided that we would buy out the equipment of a processor who had gone out of business and we started processing.” That’s Janie Burns talking about a business she now runs with one partner called Home Grown Poultry in New Plymouth, Idaho.  Interestingly, they’re poised and ready to become the only USDA poultry processor in the State of Idaho and appear to have grown a nice little business.

 (Burns) “We process not just the birds that I raise, but we have about 400 other customers to bring their chickens and turkeys and ducks and geese and chuckers and pheasants to us.”

 Janie is also very involved in the raising of poultry and sheep and is an active participant in bringing her products to the Boise farmer’s market every Saturday during the season. She says the market is thriving to such an extent that merchants could probably sell seven times as much food as they already sell. That’s very encouraging and might motivate other ag producers to get pro-active in selling direct to consumer.