Farmer Focus to Expand Processing Capabilities with a $3.6 Million Grant from USDA

Farmer Focus, the only 100% USDA organic and Humane Certified® chicken company with a mission to promote and protect generational family farms, is proud to announce that it is the recipient of a $3.6 million grant issued as part of the second round of the USDA’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP). The grant will support a $17.8 million expansion of Farmer Focus’ existing organic chicken processing facility (“Liberty”) in Harrisonburg, VA. By almost doubling processing capacity over the next two years, this investment will enable Farmer Focus to welcome more family farmers into its farming family and create more than 300 new jobs for residents of the city of Harrisonburg and broader Rockingham County. The USDA’s second round of MPPEP investment of $59 million, which the Farmer Focus grant is part of, was announced by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack during a visit to Farmer Focus’ Harrisonburg, VA headquarters on Tuesday, February 21st. During the visit, Secretary Vilsack was joined by USDA Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; Brian Shull, Director of Economic Development for the City of Harrisonburg; Corwin Heatwole, CEO of Farmer Focus; and Stephen Shepard, President and COO of Farmer Focus. After a tour of the company’s newest 78,000 square-foot state-of-the-art packaging facility (“Acorn”), the group was joined by Farmer Focus Farming Partners Jules Maloney-Smith of River’s Edge Farm and Peyton Fravel of Peyton Fravel Farm to discuss the impact of the MPPEP grant and ways to create a more sustainable, equitable and resilient meat supply chain.