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Delmarva Chicken Association honors outstanding growers

December 15, 2020

Delmarva Chicken Association announced the recipients of its Outstanding Grower Awards, honoring farm families in Delmarva’s chicken community with recognition as exemplary farmers raising broiler chickens. Each grower is an independent farmer raising chickens under contract for one of Delmarva’s chicken companies.

“Our growers often serve as examples for the chicken community and the nation,” said Holly Porter, DCA executive director. “When growers stand and speak at meetings and public hearings, their voices command attention and respect. When they share their everyday rewards and challenges on social media, they help their neighbors understand how chickens are raised. And they are valued in their communities by all who understand their roles as stewards of the land.”

The following local growers were honored: 

Steve Brittingham of Millsboro, a grower for Mountaire Farms, retired from a long career as a Mountaire flock advisor before buying his chicken farm. Craig Davidson of Frankford, a grower for Amick Farms, is a second-generation chicken grower. Vickie Lambden of Bridgeville, a grower for Perdue Farms, has raised chickens for 25 years. Jim Marvel of Ellendale, a grower for Allen Harim, achieved a lifelong dream of becoming a chicken grower when he built his farm in 2018. Joel Peterman of Milford is a grower for Mountaire Farms. Peterman and his wife Kayla Peterman recently worked with DCA to install vegetative environmental buffers on their farm. Blair Shockley of Laurel is a grower for Perdue Farms. He and his wife Julie Shockley have raised chickens since 2002 and built two houses of their own in 2015. Susan Steen of Laurel, a grower for Amick Farms, is a second-generation chicken grower, and her family also has a grain operation.

While Outstanding Growers are customarily honored at the Delmarva Chicken Association Booster Banquet in April, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Booster Banquet's cancellation this year meant DCA needed to recognize these growers in a different way. DCA staff visited the growers' farms over the spring and summer to congratulate them and deliver an engraved silver Revere bowl to each recipient. The growers also received lane signs that can be displayed at the entrances to their farms acknowledging them as 2020 outstanding producers.

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