Bell & Evans, America’s oldest branded chicken company, is embarking on an exciting new program, the Bell & Evans Organic Grain Initiative, to help Pennsylvania’s farmers convert their land and growing practices to organic. This leader in the field (no pun intended!) is celebrating 125 years of business and 10 years of organic production. Bell & Evans was an industry pioneer of all-natural chicken, raised without antibiotics and animal welfare standards, and is now turning that same ethos to organics.
The Bell & Evans Organic Grain Initiative will offer financial assistance to farmers during and after organic land conversion. It will do this by way of contracted premium pricing for transitional grains and long-term contracts up to 10 years for organic-certified grains after the three-year transitional period. The grains will be procured right on the farm, and grains will be processed in Pennsylvania. Bell & Evans and its partners will also offer training and support to farmers to ensure their success. This is a boon, and a safety net, to farmers who might otherwise struggle with the financial investment that becoming Certified Organic entails.
“We introduced the first all-natural chicken to the market more than 20 years ago, raised on all-vegetarian feed and without antibiotics, before there was a demand,” said Bell & Evans Owner Scott Sechler. “It was the right thing to do then, and it led us to adopt organic practices 10 years ago as demand for all-natural and organic products increased. Today, more than 40% of our production is organic, and I’m setting out to help Pennsylvania become the number-one organic producer in the country.”
Bell & Evans has thrown its support behind organics in the past, like in January 2019, when the company joined several other Pennsylvania public and non-governmental organizations in signing the High Performance Farms Initiative (HPFI) at the 103rd Annual PA Farm Show. There, Bell & Evans reaffirmed its commitment to the promotion of organic farming practices in the Commonwealth, and established long-term contracts and premium pricing for farmers converting to organic.
On Tuesday, August 6, 2019, representatives from Bell & Evans met with farmers at the Pennsylvania Organic Farm Progress Day in Myerstown, PA, and on Thursday, August 8, Sechler and company representatives attended a private organic farmer appreciation event hosted by Boyd Station, its partner in organic soybean procurement and processing. The company also attended the Ag Progress Days at Penn State in mid-August to meet with farmers and discuss the initiative.
The Bell & Evans Organic Grain Initiative is still brand-new, but soon the discussions that Bell & Evans is having with interested farmers will turn into concrete action, and the push toward more sustainable and organic agriculture in Pennsylvania will be underway!
- Feature photo: Pexels
