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Grant funding for the new Central Virginia Poultry Cooperative is good news for farmers in Lunenburg County, local officials say. 

Support to help get the cooperative off the ground came last week in the form of nearly $1.8 million in grants announced Wednesday, Feb 28 at a Burkesville farm. But while we detail in another story this week how the project will work, what impact will it have on Lunenburg County farmers? 

Lunenburg County Administrator Tracy Gee agrees saying the grant funding gives poultry producers the ability to responsibly adapt their business model and operations to overcome the losses suffered after last year’s Tyson shutdown. 

the efforts will also heavily support our local grain producers as they provide feed for the egg producers,” Gee said.

POULTRY PRODUCTION PLAYS A BIG ROLE 

Numbers from the latest Census of Agriculture County Profiles show that poultry production has been a big part of the agricultural products sold by farmers in each county.

Lunenburg County’s agriculture Census numbers from 2017 do not disclose the specific total of poultry and egg sales by farmers, but show that it is part of a total of $1.5 million that also includes sale of hogs and pigs, and aquaculture.

The county ranked 29th out of the 97 counties that have poultry and egg sales by farmers.

Gee said that it is too early to have data on how the shift in business models will affect the poultry producers.

“We will have more data on that as the cooperative and producers move forward,” she said. “The hope is that this could be a more profitable operation for the producers once the initial organizational and capital investments are complete.”