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The Iowa Department of Agriculture and land
stewardship announced that it received
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permission from a court to kill approximately
1.3 million broiler chickens previously owned
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by a Minnesota poultry processor.
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The department added that it concluded
depopulation on October 25th.
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The decision comes after the chicken’s previous
owner, Pure Prairie poultry filed for
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bankruptcy at the end of September, attributing
their position to pandemic influenced supply
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chain issues and low chicken prices.
Minnesota and Iowa Station.
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Kimt News three reported that the company owed
debtors between 100 million and $500 million.
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According to a press release, Pierre Prairie
told the department that it could not purchase
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feed for the chickens at 13 contracted farms in
Iowa.
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A few days later, the company ceased operations
and laid off the workers at its processing
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plant in Charles City, Iowa.
This move left the contracted farmers to care
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for the chickens with their own money and no
place to send them once they reached processing
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age.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that the
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bankruptcy filing and plant closure also
strained 300,000 birds in Minnesota and 170,000
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in Wisconsin.
The company euthanized about 139,000 of the
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Minnesota chickens and found other processing
facilities or homes for the rest.
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The Wisconsin chickens avoided euthanization
and found new homes.
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On the same day of the plant closure, a court
order granted the ID A Ls Care custody and
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control of the Iowa chickens.
The department pursued other markets and
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processors secured an initial offer to purchase
the 1.3 million birds and even reached a
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tentative agreement.
However, the buyer backed out citing legal
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costs associated with potential litigation from
lien claims from attorneys for other interested
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parties.
Another route involved processing the broilers
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and donating them to Iowa residents facing food
insecurity.
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But the combination of ongoing lien and claim
risks and logistics timeliness and scale
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requirements led to no credible proposals or
offers with no available buyers in processing
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capacity and the increased yardage and feed
costs.
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The ID A LS received an authorization to kill
the birds starting with the largest and least
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market should a last minute solution present
itself.
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The bankruptcy filing came about two years
after the US Department of Agriculture
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announced a $39 million loan to Pure Prairie
and a $7 million grant designed to support the
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company until the loan became accessible.
In April 2023.
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A group of lawmakers from the three states have
sent a letter to the USDA requesting answers
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from the agency’s loan and grant process.
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I’m Nolan Basin.
This is manufacturing now.