Foster Farms Sells Farmerville, Louisiana, Chicken Facilities to Case Farms

Case Farms has acquired the Farmerville, La., chicken complex from Foster Farms, including fresh chicken and prepared foods processing, protein conversion, a feed mill and hatchery, according to a joint release sent to Food Processing this weekend.

The fresh chicken, prepared foods and protein conversion facilities are located in Farmerville, with the feed mill situated in Arcadia, La., and the hatchery in Athens, La. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Foster Farms, which is headquartered in Livingston, Calif., has owned the Farmerville facility since 2009, when it swooped in and “saved” the facility from closure by previous owner Pilgrim’s Pride. Pilgrim’s planned to shutter the facility amid bankruptcy proceedings at the time, but instead agreed to sell to Foster Farms for approximately $72.3 million.

Foster Farms decided to sell to Case Farms in order to focus on its core branded retail and foodservice channels, the release noted. On Case Farms’ side of the equation, the company said it aligns with its strategic growth plan to “enhance flexibility for its customers.” The companies said that the facilities’ employees, customers and suppliers are all expected to transition over with the deal.

The Farmerville complex is a bit of an interesting geographic outlier for either company, with Foster Farms having most of its operations on the West Coast and Case Farms operating facilities in Ohio and North Carolina (prior to this acquisition).