Bell & Evans to more than double its use of chicken farms for new plant
Scott Sechler Sr., president of Bell & Evans, believes the organic chicken company will have jobs for new Puerto Rican residents of Lebanon County. (Photo: Jeremy Long, Lebanon Daily News)
(Undated) — In a rough month for Lebanon County agriculture, there is finally some good news courtesy of ever-expanding high-end chicken producer Bell & Evans.
The company announced plans to increase by 250 percent both its breeder farms and farms where chickens are raised to support its new harvesting plant that is currently under construction.
“We’re a great fit for farmers who want to incorporate a successful chicken business into their operation,” said owner Scott Sechler in a news release.
The farms growing Bell & Evans chickens are mostly local, averaging less than a 60 minutes trip from the Fredericksburg plants, according to the news release.
Eggs and poultry are already Lebanon County’s top agricultural commodity, according to census data. Dairy products are the county’s second-biggest commodity, but many dairy farms are struggling to cope with the loss of contracts with Dean Foods at a time when the industry is struggling.
Sechler appealed directly to dairy farmers in an interview with the Reading Eagle.
“This is a great opportunity for dairy and other farmers who are looking for a way to balance their family business with low-risk agriculture,” he told the Reading Eagle. He also offered refinancing support to farms from financial partners of Bell & Evans.
Bell & Evans broke ground in November on the 560,000-square-foot harvesting plant in its Bethel Township complex. It is expected to generate 1,800 new jobs after it opens in early 2020 and process 2.6 million chickens.
It is the last of three major pieces of an expansion in all phases of chicken production. Chickens are born at a state-of-the-art humane hatchery that opened in 2017, then raised at area farms. The grown chickens are then humanely killed and processed at a harvesting plant before going to a facility that opened in 2015 for further processing and packaging.
Bell & Evans also plans to build a wastewater treatment plant, rendering plant, composting building and warehousing facility on its Fredericksburg complex to support the chicken production facilities, according to a news release.
Like other Bell & Evans buildings, the new harvesting facility will feature European-influenced innovations and will retain the companies commitment to using slow-induction anesthesia before killing the animals.
This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Lebanon Daily News.
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