Delmarva Poultry Industry honors growers, executive and legislator

286
Advertisement
Recipients of awards at DPI’s Booster Banquet, left to right: Delaware State Sen. Gerald Hocker; Mountaire Farms President and CEO Paul Downes; and Viriginia chicken grower Dave Lovell.

Hundreds of farmers, chicken company employees, and supporters  of the Delmarva Peninsula’s chicken community gathered in Salisbury, MD this week  for the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. (DPI) Booster Banquet

During its 61st banquet, DPI recognized 11 outstanding chicken growers and four individuals for their work on behalf of the chicken industry.  

The J. Frank Gordy, Sr. Delmarva Distinguished Citizen Award, DPI’s highest honor, was presented to Paul Downes of Sussex County. Downes is the CEO and President of Mountaire Farms.

Under his leadership,  Mountaire has grown to become the seventh largest chicken company in America, and the nation’s largest private label chicken company. 

Downes, a Laurel  native, started his 34-year  career in Delmarva’s poultry industry as a flock supervisor before working his way up to leadership positions. On a national level, he serves on the National Chicken Council’s board of directors. 

Advertisement

Mountaire feeds  thousands of families at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter events, as well as year-round donations to food banks.

The Edward H. Ralph DPI Medal of Achievement was presented to Dave Lovell of Melfa, Virginia.  The award goes to a non-elected person for outstanding service on behalf of Delmarva’s chicken industry.

 Lovell, who served on DPI’s board of directors, has been raising chickens since 1991, and he owns eight chicken houses. He has been an innovator in putting environmentally friendly features into practice on his farm and has been involved in sustainability issues that affect the entire industry.

Lovell also participates in the Delmarva Land & Litter Challenge, a private-sector group working to find new ways to use chicken litter while preserving the chicken industry and improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. 

The DPI Medal of Achievement for an elected official was awarded to Delaware State Senator Gerald Hocker of Sussex County.   Hocker has been a voice for the business community in the Delaware legislature since he was first elected in 2002. He championed a 2014 bill that would have required state agencies to document regulatory effects and costs that new regulations would impose, and last year, he was instrumental in stopping the state from enacting potentially industry-stopping stormwater management rules. 

Hocker is also a small business owner, with five businesses that employ more than 200 people. His southeastern Sussex County senate district is one of the most densely concentrated chicken farm areas in the state and the well-being of the chicken industry matters to him a great deal. 

A final special citation in recognition of accomplishments was awarded posthumously to Bill Brown, a longtime chicken grower and University of Delaware Extension poultry agent who died in an accident on his farm in April 2016.

Brown was an educator who worked to improve all segments of the chicken industry and was always willing to share his knowledge with people unfamiliar with the industry. After his death, his colleagues have carried on his work by reinforcing the importance of taking safety precautions on farms at all times.

Also  DPI recognized 11  chicken growers.  Selected by their companies from Delmarva’s more than 1,600 poultry growers, this year’s recipients are: 

  • Choudry Asif, Salisbury  – Perdue Farms
  • Donald Howard, Crisfield – Tyson Foods
  • Dave Lovell, Melfa – Perdue Farms
  • Sherman & Patty Jones, Millsboro – Mountaire Farms of Delmarva
  • Ryan Marshall, Pittsville – Mountaire Farms of Delaware
  • Burton & Sue Ockels, Seaford, – Amick Farms
  • Dale Phillips, Georgetown – Allen Harim
  • Chittle Saylor Jr., Preston –  Allen Harim 
  • Ruby West, Delmar, MD –  Mountaire Farms of Delmarva
  • Terry & Diana Woodward, Harrington  – Mountaire Farms

Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. is the 1,800-member nonprofit trade association for the Delmarva Peninsula’s meat chicken industry. For more information, visit dpichicken.org.

Advertisement
Advertisement