Mountaire Farms

Mountaire Farms is the fourth-largest producer of chicken in the United States, with headquarters in Millsboro, Delaware. The company operates internationally, serving the United States and foreign markets as far away as Asia. Mountaire Farms has facilities in the states of Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.[1] The company has about 7,000 employees and plays a major part in the economy of Delaware.[1][2]

Mountaire Farms
IndustryManufacturing
Founded1914
HeadquartersMillsboro, Delaware, United States
Key people
Ron Cameron (President and CEO)
ProductsChicken
Websitemountaire.com

History

What became Mountaire Farms was founded in Arkansas in 1914 by Guy Cameron, who started a local feed business.[3] His son Ted Cameron built four feed mills in the 1950s to serve local growers. In 1959, the company started processing chickens, with Mountaire Poultry, Inc. incorporated in 1964. The company was incorporated as Mountaire Corporation in 1971. Ron Cameron, the son of Ted Cameron, became president and CEO of the company in 1975.[4]

In 1977, Mountaire Farms expanded operations to Delaware when it purchased H&H Poultry in Selbyville.[5] The company acquired Piedmont Poultry in Lumber Bridge, North Carolina in 1996. In 2000, Mountaire Farms purchased operations from Townsends, including Central Grain Facilities, in Millsboro, Delaware. The same year, the company built a new feed mill in Candor, North Carolina. In 2003, Mountaire Farms bought the Tyson feed mill in Princess Anne, Maryland. The company acquired operations from Hostetter Grain Facilities in Trappe, Maryland, Queen Anne, Maryland, and Seaford, Delaware in 2007. In 2009, Mountaire Farms bought Mauney Grain in New London, North Carolina. The company acquired Carmean Grain Facilities in Ridgely, Maryland in 2011. In 2012, Mountaire Farms bought Gavilon Grain in Townsend, Delaware. The company took over the Townsend/Omtron Hatchery in Siler City, North Carolina in 2013. Mountaire Farms bought Star Milling in Statesville, North Carolina in 2014, which became their Breeder Feed Mill. In 2016, the company bought a former processing plant in Siler City, with plans to renovate and update the plant. In October of that year, Mountaire Farms opened a new Corporate Office Building in Millsboro. In 2017, the company acquired Lansing Trade Group, LLC, which has operations in Eastville and Painter in Virginia.[4]

COVID-19 outbreak

While the company had a "coronavirus task force" before finding any cases,[6] in April and May 2020 the company's Selbyville, Delaware plant became a hotspot for an outbreak of COVID-19, with the UFCW stating there are 40 cases. Sam Wilson, a Sussex County, Delaware councilman, called further testing at county poultry processing plants "a dumb idea" because they were "losing millions of dollars".[7][8][9]

Other processing plants with positive cases include nine cases at a Lumber Bridge, North Carolina plant. Eleven cases were found at a 1500-employee processing plant Siler City, North Carolina, leading Piedmont Health and the North Carolina National Guard to test more employees and family members, which led to a total of 74 positive tests out of 356 tested.[8][9][7][10][11][12]

Political contributions

Mountaire Farms was the fifth largest contributor to the 2016 Trump campaign.[13][8] In 2018 Mountaire contributed 7.7 million dollars towards GOP efforts in that years midterm elections, which bought Mountaire CEO Ronald Cameron access to The White House on the day of the election to watch the election results.[14][15] Ronald Cameron, "head" of Mountaire Farms, was appointed to the President Trump's advisory committee on the pandemic.[16]

References
  1. "About". Mountaire Farms. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  2. Tirrell, Michael W. (January 26, 2018). "Mountaire Farms: We're committed to being a good corporate neighbor". The News Journal. Wilmington, DE. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  3. Thornton, Gary (7 August 2014). "Mountaire Farms is 100 years old and still growing". WATTPoultry. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  4. "Our History". Mountaire Farms. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  5. MacArthur, Ron (30 October 2019). "Mistake kick-starts billion-dollar poultry industry". Cape Gazette. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  6. "How Delaware chicken plants are trying to keep up with coronavirus threat, pressures". delawareonline. Retrieved 4 May 2020. Before any COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the states Mountaire operates in, the Arkansas-based company created a coronavirus task force to be prepared, Bassett said.
  7. "Southern Delaware councilman: Testing chicken plant workers for COVID-19 a 'dumb idea'". USA TODAY. Retrieved 4 May 2020. "Where did the governor get the bright idea to ... test the poultry workers?" Wilson asked during council's teleconference meeting on Tuesday. "They're losing millions of dollars because of this dumb idea."
  8. Legum, Judd. "Trump's chicken man". popular.info. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  9. "Coronavirus cases hit second southern Delaware chicken plant; one employee hospitalized". delawareonline. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  10. WRAL (16 April 2020). "Factory workers at Pilgrim's Pride, Mountaire Farms want protection from COVID-19 :: WRAL.com". WRAL.com. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  11. WRAL (28 April 2020). "Mountaire Farms testing nets 74 COVID-19 infections; outbreaks growing at NC food plants :: WRAL.com". WRAL.com. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  12. "Siler City's Mountaire Farms, N.C. meat-processing plants adjusting to life with COVID-19". The Chatham News + Record. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  13. "Top Contributors, federal election data for Donald Trump, 2016 cycle". OpenSecrets. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  14. "White House Used Pandemic To Weaken Safety Regulations, Reporter Says". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  15. Mayer, Jane. "White House Used Pandemic To Weaken Safety Regulations, Reporter Says". popular.info. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  16. Mayer, Jane (11 July 2020). "How Trump Is Helping Tycoons Exploit the Pandemic". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
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