Zacky Farms Plans Major Expansion

Buoyed by the seemingly insatiable consumer appetite for chicken and turkey, Zacky Farms, California’s second-largest poultry processor, announced a $16-million expansion program in Fresno and Tulare counties.

Officials of Los Angles-based Zacky said $7.2 million will be spent in west Fresno to renovate an existing processing plant and other facilities; a new $1.6-million hatchery will be built in Kerman about 20 miles west of Fresno, adding 300,000 chickens to the current weekly production cycle of 1.1 million. The remaining $7.2 million will be spent on a new feed mill on Highway 99 near Traver.

Changing Habits

“This expansion is the largest endeavor that our company has attempted at one time,” said Henry Frederick, executive vice president. “We certainly feel it will help better serve the community . . . because there is a lot more demand for chicken.”

With a decline in the consumption of red meat, Americans now annually consume about 60 pounds of chicken per person and about 15 pounds of turkey, more than double the level in 1960, according to the Agriculture Department.

The change in eating habits, experts say, stems from concerns about cholesterol, health and fitness.

Though the $16-million expansion is the largest since Zacky was founded in the 1930s, it will only add about 150 new jobs in an industry that has become highly mechanized since the days when farmers sold chicken eggs from roadside stands.

Currently, Zacky Farms has about 2,500 employees and an annual payroll of about $33 million, Frederick said.