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       NOTTOWAY COUNTY, Va. — Nearly a year after the Tyson Foods processing plant in Glen Allen closed, Nottoway County has entered into a 10-year egg production agreement with an Indiana company, a relief to some chicken farmers who are looking for a lifeline.
       ”It’s been hard work, but after today it all makes sense,” said John Baptis, one of the affected farmers who helped broker the deal. “It’s a big deal. There are two buildings with over 200 homes that are currently empty because of Tyson’s closure.”
       After the closure, Batiste and several other farmers formed the Central Virginia Poultry Cooperative to find new opportunities for the 55 farms that contracted with Tyson.
       ”We found the market was saturated,” Baptistis said of the broiler chickens they raise.
       “We’re going to sign a 10-year contract with these farms to get them back into production. The co-op itself has a 13-year contract, but Dutch has agreed to buy up to two million chickens over two years. So the scale is huge,” Baptis said. “Dutch Organics itself is a supplier to Kroger, Aldi, Walmart, and they have significant manufacturing or distribution operations on the East Coast. So it’s a perfect fit for us to come here and expand their manufacturing capabilities in Virginia.”
       For now, eggs will be shipped directly to Indiana, but once the co-op reaches 1 million eggs on its 12 existing farms (and has room for more), Dutch will begin looking at building a local processing plant, Batiste said.
       Baptiste joins local and state leaders and groups working together to find new opportunities for farmers, including the Federal Regional Council, the Tobacco Region Revitalization Council and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
       “Today was truly a team effort. It was a collaborative effort. So, a lot of people really contributed to this event. Especially the growers, they were the ones that really stepped up,” said Agriculture and Forestry Secretary Matthew Lohr. “Today is truly one of the best days I’ve had as secretary because the job of government is to help. I feel like this part of Virginia has suffered a lot of loss, and to bring all parties together, Governor Younkin is leading the effort. To see all of these efforts come together to help the farmers in our community is something to celebrate and to celebrate our largest industry in the commonwealth.”
       Lore said agriculture contributes $80 billion to the economy annually, with poultry accounting for three of the 10 largest industries: chickens (1), turkeys (3) and eggs (10).
       While farmers switching to egg production must bear the cost of upgrading their facilities, the state will provide cooperatives with nearly $1.8 million in funding to help their members cover the initial costs of raising chickens until they start laying eggs, officials said.
       ”It takes 18 weeks to raise a chicken until it lays eggs. So you need money to pay for feed, housing, pay the breeder, and only after the eggs are laid at 19 weeks will your income start to increase,” Baputi C said.
       The Virginia Farmers Federation said it will also donate $500,000 in non-voting shares to the co-op to help get the project off the ground.
       ”The motto of the Virginia Farm Bureau. We used to have a slogan, ‘Helping you is what we do best.’ Now that slogan is ‘Friends of the Farm.’ I think both slogans are very appropriate for this situation,” said Tony Banks, senior assistant director.
       Wednesday’s announcement came at a Nottoway County farm that has been in Tom Schabach’s family since his father started it in 1979. The farm’s chicken coop was only built in 2015, he said.
       “It was just shocking,” Schaubach said of Tyson’s closure. He said his family’s farm has supplied them with broiler chickens since 1990. “We wish they were still here. But we have to take what we’ve been given and hope to bounce back and continue to operate.”
       ”It means everything. I mean, we have these houses and all this infrastructure sitting here doing nothing,” Schaubach said.
       While the cost to replace a production model is high (between $600,000 and $1.5 million, he said), his family is hopeful of its long-term relevance.
       ”The cost of rebuilding was very high,” said Bobb Bowen, Schaubach’s son-in-law. “But what other choice do you have? I mean, right now we’re going to take whatever we can get.”
       “To get back to work and be a productive member of the central and southern Virginia economy and actually produce something is immeasurable,” Schaubach added. “I have a really good feeling about it in the future. It’s going to be a big change, replacing broilers with eggs, but we can do it.”
       This is a developing story, so anyone with additional information can email a tip to newstips@wtvr.com.