Marketing and Distribution Partnership for "Pollo de Campo™ " Gets Moving!

Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on June 10, 2009

Pollo de Campo™ is a rural enterprise developed (hatched) at the Rural Enterprise Center. This enterprise is aimed at capitalizing on the knowledge and skills brought to our region by Hispanic/Latino immigrants with a farming background and able to engage in food production in Southern MN. The development of this enterprise involves established farmers, a large number of statewide agriculture and farming support organizations, scientists, businesses, and many other institutions and individuals that are part of the support infrastructure that has been developed to launch this farming enterprise.

Although we will be sharing much more information in the coming months as we start the formal deployment of our marketing and distribution partnership with Thousand Hills Cattle Company of Cannon Falls, we want to make it known to all of our partners and retail outlets interested in our free range grown chicken "Pollo de Campo™ " that we will be showing up at a store near you.

The production protocols for Pollo de Campo™ deliver a healthy, high quality bird with a consistent texture and taste. We accomplish this by providing our birds with a living environment that fundamentally delivers a high quality of life, we believe that as consumers get more educated about the origin of their food, they will want to eat more of the products that do not follow an unhealthy path in the cycle of production.

More importantly tough, Pollo de Campo™ has been launched to establish a regional network of small free range chicken farms (birds that are fed outside and have access to sources of greens in the form of grasses and other cover crops and pastures). The mission of the enterprise is to build the infrastructure, systems and programs needed to launch a whole new poultry product that can be clearly differentiated and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This product is designed to set new standards in the production and supply of healthy meat options in a scale that makes economic sense not only for launching new farmers, creating new jobs and bringing large scale economic benefits to our region, but can also transform one sector of the food system.

Pollo de Campo™ is produced as part of a symbiotic system of relationships with other farming enterprises, at least 9 other derived farming operations are being planned in conjuncture with the chicken production. These operations include everything from perennial crops, vegetable production for value added processing (utilizing the high value compost from poultry manure), medicinal herb farms to supply supplements that will be utilized to improve the natural immune system of the birds, to soil farming units for composting and soil production. Research is now being conducted in partnership with key statewide organizations and scientists to evaluate naturally beneficial chemical compounds that can be naturally incorporated into feeding systems to produce a healthier chicken naturally.

To inquire about Pollo de Campo™ and the marketing and distribution plans, visit Thousand Hills Cattle Company.

Stay tuned, there will be more coming.