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House of Raeford Management Includes Company Owners from the Johnson & Beasley Families – (L-R) Front – Nash Julian Johnson, Lon Beasley, Cowan Johnson, Jantzen Brantley. (L-R) Back – Mary Susan Beasley Thigpen, Bob Johnson, Carol Luanne Johnson Sholar
Where does the time go? It seems like 2022 has simply flown by. Although the year has been a mixture of challenges and achievements for House of Raeford Farms on many fronts, we look forward to a rewarding 2023.
I am grateful for our employees who stepped up in the face of labor shortages this year, and helped our company meet production demands of the business. They worked through two years of difficult times during the pandemic, and finally began to see some semblance of normalcy return to the operations. As a side note and further illustrating this dedication, our company currently employs over 150 persons that have been with us for 25 years or longer. Quite an achievement.
House of Raeford’s live production operations continued to raise healthy chickens, while facing a serious challenge from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. Our farmers and live production staff have been vigilant throughout the year in maintaining strict biosecurity guidelines on the farms. I have been impressed with the commitment everyone has exhibited. Thank you for your efforts to provide a safe environment for our birds.
We greatly appreciate the trust exhibited by loyal customers in purchasing our products. Whether in the retail, foodservice, institutional, or export markets, the landscape is different for our commercial clients. Our company remains focused on making adjustments in operations to meet their changing needs. Thanks also to all of those across the southeast who have taken advantage of our community truckload sales in order to help manage the trials of inflation, and to help our family farms do business locally.
This year House of Raeford has been able to make improvements to our facilities, allowing for better efficiency and production capability. This included the opening of the new Simsboro, LA feed mill serving our Arcadia, LA complex at greatly increased capacity. Our Greenville, SC operation completed a retrofit and the Wallace, NC facility added scales and baggers to increase productivity. Environmentally, wastewater upgrades affected the Greenville, Wallace, Arcadia, Rose Hill, NC, W. Columbia, SC, and Hemingway, SC operations.
I believe that a company that does well should also do good. Our nonprofit arm, House of Raeford Farms FLOCK, continued to touch the lives of so many in communities where we have operations. FLOCK’s outreach supported those who are food insecure, youth who need opportunities to develop into responsible adults, and those dealing with addiction and mental health issues. The organization awarded 15 college scholarships to children of our employees as part of the House of Raeford Scholarship Program, now entering its 10th year with awards totaling $332,500 to 133 students. We also donated hundreds of thousands of servings of chicken, sowed into local schools and youth enrichment programs, and partnered with other local nonprofit organizations to expand their reach.
As we step into 2023, we are thankful that people continue to rely on chicken as a sustainable, healthy, and reasonably priced protein option for their families. I am proud of all those whose contributions make House of Raeford successful, and appreciate God’s blessing over our employees, growers, customers, suppliers, FLOCK partners, and their families. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Bob Johnson, CEO, House of Raeford Farms