A cooperative effort between company personnel and private contractors, along with an aggressive schedule, has allowed Premium Standard Farms to be ahead of timeline to install Next Generation Technology at its farms throughout Missouri.
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PSF announced on on Wednesday that it has installed the barn scraper technology in 80 of its Class 1A barns as of Dec. 31, which is 32 more than had been required under the agreement reached by PSF, the Missouri Attorney General’s office and the Jackson County Circuit court. The barn scraper system has been determined by an expert panel to be the best source of success for PSF in meeting odor reduction requirements of 70 percent set by the panel.
According to PSF President Bill Homann, who spoke at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, an internal timeline set up by the company is allowing PSF to move more quickly in meeting the installation requirements.
“We are currently working at a pace of around 8 barns per week and the internal timeline that we have set up has pushed us to be more aggressive, something which we are trying to hold to as we move forward,” Homann said, adding that around 100 persons are working on the installation process, including personnel from the company and a contactor from Spickard.
“We have three separate crews from PSF working on site as well as working with Contract General of Spickard, a company we have worked with for years,” he said. “Right now we have up to 100 persons who are committed to this process.”
Enabling PSF to work quickly has been the fact that personnel have started their work in 72 barns at the White Tail Farm, a site that was idled last winter, but is now back in operation at around 50 percent capacity with installation of the barn scraper system. As many as 24 barns at the South Meadows Farm in Sullivan County are expected to be finished by Friday. Once work on that farm has been completed (sometime in the next three weeks), crews will then move to the Holman and Ruckman farm sites, then on to Valley View, Green Hills and Terre Haute.
The timeline set up by the court requires that 13 barns be completed by July 31 and 230 barns by Dec. 31, both in 2011. The company is scheduled to install the scraper system into all 366 of its Class 1A barns by July 31, 2012.
Homann said that the barn scraper technology will not be installed in three of its finishing sites, in which capacity is being reduced that would no longer make them a Class 1A facility. They include the Locust Ridge farm in Sullivan County and the Sommerset and Hedgewood farms in Mercer County. The consent agreement with the court and attorney general requires PSF to place the scraper system only in those facilities which are classified as Class 1A. Should those farms be upgraded, the equipment would have to be installed before they could be put back into production.
Homann indicted that the estimated cost of $7.5 million to installed the scraper system is running at about what was anticipated, adding there have been no surprises as to equipment delivery, quality or installation.
“We are learning as we go and we’ve made some positive adjustments that have been beneficial in the installation process,” Homann said.
PSF employs around 1,100 persons, a number that Homann said will drop by about 50 within the next year as people leave the company. Homann said it is the plan to replace positions with individuals already employed at PSF as well as reduce some of the jobs due to attrition.
Homann also discussed the upcoming legislative session and what PSF would like to see happen to help their company continue to operate in Missouri.
“We would like to see additional consideration for tort reform,” he said. “Nuisance suits have been a problem for us and for most all animal agriculture in Missouri and we would like to see the legislature take a good, hard look at some changes that we feel can be made to benefit not only animal agriculture, but the state as a whole.”
He said that a monetary settlement reached as part of the consent agreement, requiring PSF to pay school districts and road districts in areas where its facilities are located, has been paid out. In visiting with area school districts that received the money, Homann said the funds have been very beneficial, especially in a time where schools are hurting financially. Road district money is also being put to good use, he said, helping make roads better.