Poultry: Big business for SW Missouri

The economic chickens are coming home to roost, with southwest Missouri counties leading the state's charge in agriculture revenue growth, largely with poultry production.

American Dehydrated Foods has reaped the benefits of a burgeoning poultry industry in southwest Missouri.

"Since there are more raw materials available, that means there is an increased opportunity for us to find a fit for those raw materials," said Kurt Hellweg, the Springfield company's president and chief operating officer. ADF uses poultry products to produce ingredients for the pet food and specialty feed industry. The company often takes components from poultry that are underutilized and finds a use for those components, Hellweg said.

Southwest Missouri's poultry industry is benefiting the agricultural economy in the area, and businesses like ADF are also seeing the rewards of the poultry industry's strength. A review of the 1997 Census of Agriculture led Dave Whitson with the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension to conclude that poultry is a big reason there was a 25 percent increase in the value of Missouri's agricultural products from 1992 to 1997.

"Agriculture, with a big boost from poultry, is generating a lot of dollars in southwest Missouri dollars that often mean more money spent locally for feed, equipment and the other inputs of production," Whitson said.

The growth in production is a result of increased demand for poultry products, Whitson said.

"Poultry consumption has been on the increase for 40 years, and it's been a significant boon for agriculture in this area," Whitson said.

Whitson's research indicates that McDonald, Barry, Newton, Lawrence, Jasper and Barton are the southwest Missouri counties with the highest poultry production. Agriculture overall in southwest Missouri had a $968 million value in sales in 1997, Whitson said. McDonald County's share of that was $155 million.

The trend upward in poultry farming in the area has benefited American Dehydrated Foods in a number of ways, Hellweg said. For example, having the raw materials it needs right in its back yard saves money and time for ADF, he said.

"The proximity allows us to work more closely with the industry because they're our neighbors. It's allowed us access to other products and to form alliances that have led us to be more innovative in what we do, and that have allowed us to understand the industry's concerns, and where we need to be looking to innovate and help with some of those concerns," Hellweg said.

The freight costs of raw materials have also decreased as the poultry industry has grown in the area, he added.

"Poultry is everything to our business. We use some other products, but the vast majority of what we do is with poultry," Hellweg said.

Two northwest Arkansas businesses have also reaped the benefits of the growth of the region's poultry industry.

Simmons Foods' growth pattern follows the trend Whitson tracked in his research. Siloam Springs, Ark.-based Simmons has had strong growth in southwest Missouri, both in the number of contract growers and in its facilities in Southwest City, which have been expanded to accommodate the growth, said Doug Siemens, community relations manager for Simmons.

"We have in excess of 100 family farmers in southwest Missouri and have spent $15 to $20 million in all aspects of processing in Southwest City. That's a significant investment in the area for our company," Siemens said.

Southwest Missouri was a natural expansion market for the industry from northwest Arkansas, Siemens said, and the availability of land and good water made a good climate for bird health, he added.

Simmons has a payroll of $25 million in southwest Missouri in its processing plant and hatchery, and that does not include what it pays its contract growers, Siemens said.

Siemens said he thinks poultry consumption will continue to grow, but that companies like Simmons will look to yet more markets for additional farms. The company is already expanding into Oklahoma. Ed Nicholson said Tyson Foods, based in Springdale, Ark., will probably look to eastern Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky for expansion, but it now has a significant investment in southwest Missouri, with complexes in Noel and in Monett.

In Noel, the company has annual payroll of $30.6 million and pays out $18.3 million annually to growers. In Monett, annual payroll is $21.3 million while annual payout to growers is $16.6 million, Nicholson said. The southwest Missouri poultry industry has grown a great deal in the past several years, but has reached a plateau now, Nicholson said.

"Our complexes there are mature complexes and there hasn't been a great deal of growth recently," Nicholson said.

Whitson also said that he is not sure how much further the poultry industry will grow in the area, particularly in light of environmental concerns.