Perdue Farms

Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has 2021 annual sales of $8 billion.

Perdue Farms
TypePrivate
IndustryMeat processing
Poultry farming
Founded1920
FounderArthur W. Perdue
Pearl Perdue[1]
HeadquartersSalisbury, Maryland
Key people
Jim Perdue, Chairman
Kevin McAdams, CEO
ProductsPoultry, chicken, turkey, pork, grain
Revenue$8 billion (2021)[2]
Number of employees
21,000 (2019)[3]
ParentFPP Family Investments, Inc.
WebsitePerdueFarms.com

History

Origin and war era

The company was founded in 1920 by Arthur Perdue[1] with his wife, Pearl Perdue, who had been keeping a small flock of chickens.[4] The company started out selling table eggs, then in 1925, Perdue built the company's first hatchery, and switched to selling layer chicks to farmers instead of eggs.[4] His son Frank Perdue joined the company in 1939 at age 19 after dropping out of college.[4]

Post-war growth

The company was incorporated as A.W. Perdue & Son and Frank Perdue assumed leadership in the 1950s.[1][4] The company also began contracting with local farmers to raise its birds and supplying chickens for processing as well as opening a second hatchery in North Carolina during this period.[4]

Full integration

Perdue entered the grain and oilseed business by building grain receiving and storage facilities and Maryland's first soybean processing plant.[4]

In 1968, the company began operating its first poultry processing plant in Salisbury.[4] This move had two effects: it gave Perdue Farms full vertical integration and quality control over every step from egg and feed to market,[4] as well as increasing profits which were being squeezed by processors.[1] This move enabled the company to differentiate its product, rather than selling a commodity.[1]

In 1991, Frank's son Jim Perdue was named Chairman, becoming the third generation of leaders from the Perdue family.[4]

Perdue today

In 2013, Perdue was reportedly the third-largest American producer of broilers (chickens for eating) and was estimated as having 7% of the US chicken production market, behind Pilgrim's Pride and Tyson Foods.[5]

In 2010, the corporate structure of Perdue Farms changed.[6] A holding company, FPP Family Investments, Inc., owned by the Perdue family, became the controlling entity for Perdue Farms. The holding company also owns Perdue AgriBusiness, a grain operation; FPP Business Services, a shared business services company; and Coleman Natural Foods.[7]

Other subsidiaries include Heritage Breeders, LLC, which is responsible for developing the breed used by Perdue, and developing other lines of stock for sale to other poultry companies; Venture Milling, which creates proteins for livestock; Perdue Fats and Proteins, LLC, which sells pet and animal feed ingredients; Perdue BioEnergy, LLC, which works in the field of renewable energies; and Perdue AgriRecycle, which converts poultry litter into organic fertilizer products.[8]

In 2007, Perdue removed all human antibiotics from its feed and launched the Harvestland brand, under which it sold products that met the requirements for an “antibiotic-free” label. By 2014, Harvestland had grown to a $200 million business. In 2014, Perdue removed all antibiotics (including ionophores, which are antibiotics used in animals to promote growth, prevent disease and lower production costs) from its hatchery, and began using the “antibiotic free” labels on its Harvestland, Simply Smart and Perfect Portions products.[9]

In March 2017, Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms, announced Randy Day would be promoted from COO to CEO.[10] Day would be the fourth CEO in the company's history. Perdue would remain as the chairman of the board of directors. Day retired as CEO in July 2023, and would be succeeded by Perdue's chief operating officer Kevin McAdams.[11]

Criticisms

Perdue has been criticized for its factories' lack of adherence to some basic animal-welfare practices.[12][13][14] The guidelines that Perdue follows, created by the National Chicken Council, have drawn criticism for allowing birds to be deprived of light, food, and water for long periods, and also for permitting animals to be hung upside-down by their ankles before slaughter.[13][15] In 2010, the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against Perdue for violating a New Jersey consumer fraud law by applying the labels "purely all-natural" and "humanely raised" to its products when reasonable consumers would not consider the conditions Perdue chickens are raised in “humane.”[13][16] The Humane Society filed a similar lawsuit in Florida in April 2013 after an appeal by Perdue to have a similar case rejected was turned down by a federal court.[17] In response, Perdue issued a statement claiming that its practice “exceeds the National Chicken Council guidelines in several areas, including monitoring air quality in the poultry house, video monitoring of live-bird handling areas at the processing plant and USDA audits of producer farms and...hatcheries.”[18]

Perdue has also been criticized for allegedly polluting the Chesapeake Bay.[19] In 2010, the Assateague Coastal Trust sued Perdue for violating the Clean Water Act by allegedly allowing excessive chicken manure to run into the bay.[19] The suit was later won by Perdue in October 2012, after the environmental group failed to establish that the waste runoff was from chicken houses.[20]

References
  1. Schmetterer, Bob (2003). Leap: A Revolution in Creative Business Strategy. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 72–76. ISBN 978-0-471-22917-9.
  2. "Perdue Farms". (Forbes. November 23, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  3. "Perdue Farms confirms 118 employees laid off". The Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland). April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  4. "Our Story". Perdue Farms. Archived from the original on 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
  5. "2013 Tyson Fact Book" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  6. The Daily Times Perdue Restructure to Allow for Growth
  7. The Daily Times Salisbury Based Poultry Company Purchases Coleman
  8. Perdue Farms Our Products and Services
  9. Strom, Stephanie (July 31, 2015). "Perdue Sharply Cuts Antibiotic Use in Chickens and Jabs at Its Rivals". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  10. "Perdue Farms announces new CEO". Delmarva Daily Times. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  11. Eller, Donnelle (July 12, 2023). "ISU grad Kevin McAdams named CEO of Perdue Farms, fourth-largest U.S. chicken producer". Des Moines Register. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  12. Warner, Melanie (21 May 2010). "Perdue's "Humanely-Raised" Chicken: The Latest Misleading Food Claim". CBS News. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  13. Wheeler, Timothy (29 November 2010). "Perdue sued for claiming its chickens raised 'humanely'". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  14. Kristof, Nicholas (4 December 2014). "Abusing Chickens We Eat". The New York Times.
  15. "Humanely Raised? Challenging Perdue's Claims" (Press release). 29 November 2010. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  16. "Court Allows Lawsuit Over Perdue's "Humane" Claims to Proceed" (Press release). 1 April 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  17. "Second Class Action Lawsuit Filed Challenging Perdue's "Humane" Claims" (Press release). 24 October 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  18. "Perdue Farms responds to HSUS lawsuit" (Press release). 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  19. Fahrenthold, David (2 March 2010). "Perdue, poultry farm sued for polluting Chesapeake Bay". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  20. Wheeler, Timothy (20 December 2012). "Eastern Shore farmers, Perdue win pollution lawsuit". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
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