Preparations to course of the Iowa chickens being raised for Pure Prairie Poultry had been derailed after entities the corporate was indebted to threatened authorized motion.
In keeping with a press launch from the Iowa Division of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), depopulation of the estimated 1.3 million chickens started on October 17 and was concluded on October 25.
The birds had been beneath the care and custody of IDALS since October 2, after Pure Prairie Poultry had filed for chapter, ceased processing operations and said that it now not had the monetary means to offer feed for the chickens. The corporate’s processing plant is in Charles Metropolis, Iowa.
Following the court docket order, IDALS “actively pursued quite a few different processors and markets, and solicited provides for the acquisition of the birds,” the IDALS launch said.
The company was in a position to safe an preliminary provide to buy the entire birds and IDALS and a processor it didn’t determine reached a tentative settlement for all birds to be processed as soon as they reached market weight.
Nonetheless, earlier than a authorized listening to could possibly be held regarding that tentative settlement, attorneys representing a few of Pure Prairie Poultry’s collectors notified IDALS they’d assert their lien rights and safety pursuits within the chickens, together with in opposition to the customer’s proceeds from the sale of the processed merchandise from these chickens.
The listening to had been scheduled for October 8.
The potential purchaser then withdrew its provide. Whereas IDALS by no means revealed who the potential processor of the birds was, The Gazette, citing court docket paperwork, reported that it was Tyson Meals.
Following the withdrawn provide, IDALS pursued different potential consumers and processors. It additionally explored whether or not the broilers could possibly be processed and donated to assist Iowans dealing with meals insecurity. Nonetheless, the company said, due to the persevering with lien and declare dangers, in addition to the “timeliness, logistics and scale required,” no different choices had been discovered.
The deliberate October 8 listening to was rescheduled to October 11, the place IDALS detailed to the court docket the efforts it made to acquire a proposal for the birds.
“Given the unavailability of consumers and lack of processing capability mixed with the ever-increasing feed and yardage prices, in addition to the taxing of Division employees assets managing broilers with no end-market, the Courtroom granted the Division authorization to start depopulation. The court docket required the Division to start the depopulation course of with the biggest and least marketable birds within the unlikely occasion {that a} credible last-minute market answer could possibly be discovered for among the youthful broilers. Although the Division believes depopulation ought to all the time be a final resort, it gives finality to this unlucky circumstance, limits the ever-increasing prices to the taxpayers of Iowa and prevents any potential animal welfare points,” the IDALS press launch said.
Every of the farms the place Pure Prairie Poultry birds had been raised are using composting to get rid of the birds.
Pure Prairie Poultry filed for chapter on September 20. It reportedly owed between $100 million and $500 million to a whole lot of entities, whereas having lower than $100 million in belongings.
The corporate fashioned in 2021 with the buy of the plant in Charles Metropolis, beforehand owned by Merely Necessities.
Pure Prairie Poultry, which is headquartered in Minnesota, additionally had birds being raised by contract farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
