Family Farm Partnership

GNP Company
agrees to...
Grower partner
agrees to...
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Construct grower barn
Install all necessary equipment
Pay all electricity needed to service the barn
Fuel for heat and generator
Provide chicks
Deliver feed to bulk feed tanks
Provide bedding and sanitation supplies
Provide the services of trained professionals to advise and counsel growers at no extra cost
Make monthly grower payments, based on barn size and offer additional grower incentives and bonuses
Barn construction support and contractors
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Provide building site
Provide water
One adult family member present on farm, daily
Properly maintain building and equipment
Provide light bulbs
Phone line for alarm system
Remove manure from barn
Develop and maintain a nutrient management
program for proper litter application
Keep records according to GNP Company’s “Active Grower Management” program
Carry fire and extended coverage insurance on building and equipment
Pay all taxes
Keep road access available
Care for flocks in accordance with GNP Company’s Animal Welfare Standards
Share minimum, basic information to support brand marketing.
Company
A company with a
human touch.
Family Farm
Partners in Profit
Interested in growing with us?
Thank you for your interest!
Find Answers Here
A partnership
that works...
Steeped in a long tradition of treating
team members like one of our own, the
company’s founding family’s philosophy is
that our local family farmers are the “bread
and butter” of GNP Company. We bring a
personal touch and commitment to every
partnership, and this includes our grower partners, customers, and suppliers to deliver long-term
satisfaction and success.
Building trust together over the long haul helps us control quality, gain
efficiencies, and develop long-term partnerships in which we help each
other get better.
With a grower contract unique to the industry, our family farm partners
are paid a fixed amount per month, along with incentives for good
performance. We provide an arrangement that’s mutually beneficial and
one that’s demonstrated through grower longevity. In fact, eighty percent
of grower partners have worked with our company for more than 11
years, and 41 percent of those for more than 20 years. We believe this to
be a real example of how this philosophy plays out in everyday practice.
For many years, GNP Company has successfully partnered with local
family farmers to raise healthy chickens that become the highest quality,
best-tasting products on the market and sold under the Gold’n Plump®,
Just BARE® Chicken and Sunny Roost® brands. You’ll find these products
in both the fresh and frozen meat cases at supermarkets throughout the
United States.
First things
first...
We appreciate your interest in growing with GNP Company! Founded in
1926 by E.M. Helgeson as a small, seasonal hatchery selling day-old chicks
to Minnesota farmers, GNP Company has expanded to become the largest
fully integrated processor in the upper Midwest. Still privately owned today,
the values of family, partnerships, integrity, and mutual success are important
parts of our company culture. So, before we get started, there are some
things you should know about our general requirements before being placed
on a waiting list of interested people. Your farm must:
Be located within approximately 45 miles of Cold Spring, Minnesota or
Arcadia, Wisconsin. Not only does this guarantee the freshest products, but
it’s important to the welfare of our chickens. By minimizing transportation
time, we also minimize bird stress.
Have either enough land, or existing agreements in place, to satisfy county
and state regulations pertaining to nutrient management plans. Caring for
our environment is one of our company’s core values. Nutrient management
plans help preserve our natural resources by ensuring that manure is applied
to land in a way that’s both feasible and responsible.
If you meet the basic criteria and you like what you hear, we welcome you
to complete and submit a grower application for consideration. We’d love
to have you as a part of our growing family of farmers throughout Minnesota
and Wisconsin! And we appreciate your interest. For Minnesota, contact Wayne Sanders at
[email protected] or 320-251-3570
For Wisconsin, contact Sara Halvorsen at
[email protected] or 608-323-2141
Interested parties are encouraged to complete a grower application.
Qualified farmers may then be invited to join our loyal family of nearly
350 GNP Company grower families in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
About us...
What we
value...
GNP Company.
A company with a human touch.
The chicken business is a competitive one. Consumers have high
expectations for premium quality products at reasonable prices,
whether from the fresh meat case, deli, or their favorite restaurant.
And, with the average American consuming more than 87 pounds of
chicken annually—with its cooking versatility and health benefits—it
remains a favorite protein. So the expectations are high, both for our
industry and GNP Company.
our team
members
our footprint
our environment
our legacy
People
our family farmers
our customers
our community
We meet these expectations by:
• Continuing to evolve to meet changing market needs.
• Finding new ways to cut waste and inconsistencies to run our
business even more efficiently.
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Continuing to innovate and offer brands and products that meet the needs of different consumer segments. For example, today, GNP
Company products are sold under the Gold’n Plump®, Just BARE
Chicken®, and Sunny Roost® brands, which meet the needs of
distinct buyers.
Planet
Poultry
our passion
our animals
our process
excellence
our products
our prosperity
our promise
• Meeting the needs of retail, foodservice, and deli customers,
nationally.
• Striving to meet the expectations for social and environmental responsibility when it comes to our animals, people, and in the
communities where we live and work.
Progress
About our animal
welfare standards
Handling our chickens with the utmost in care is not only a core company
value, but it’s the right thing to do. We realize that we owe our livelihoods
to our chickens and expect our team members and grower partners to
help us provide them with the humane care they deserve. Not following
humane care guidelines and practices will result in corrective action and
may be grounds for contract termination.
Here’s how we help you provide the best care:
Wholesome, nutritionally
balanced feed:
Chickens raised by our grower
partnersare provided nutritious
feed formulations (developed to
meet changing life-stage nutritional needs), produced by our own
feed mills from locally grown corn,
soybeans, and other wholesome ingredients. They are able to eat at will
and drink filtered water from closed, sanitary systems (unless prescribed
otherwise by our company veterinarian) and are free to roam inside the
barn throughout their entire lives.
Proper and technologically advanced environmental barn design:
Chickens raised for GNP Company are done so in modern barns
equipped with sophisticated systems that monitor climate conditions
and maintain comfort. The barns are designed to reduce stress and
maintain optimum bird health.
Considerate handling and transport practices:
GNP Company was the first chicken company to integrate automatic
chicken-catching technology into our live operations as a way to boost
worker safety and bird quality while minimizing worker and bird stress.
The catching machine is equipped with a roller device covered with long
rubber fingers. These fingers gently ease the chicken into bins. From here,
chickens are transferred onto a conveyor equipped with an electronic
counter. Once counted, each chicken is gently placed into a module
drawer and loaded onto a semi-truck.
For our grower-partners, we’ve designed a specific, “Active Grower
Management” program to help manage and support you in these efforts. About your
business...
Once you become a part of our family, we believe in helping you succeed.
This means that our dedicated team of experts will begin by walking you
through the set-up phase of your business. We will then teach you everything you need to know to successfully raise happy, healthy chickens. GNP
Company experts will help you:
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Select the appropriate location for your barn.
Coordinate grower/breeder schedules, including:
1. Barn construction
2. Chick delivery
3. Feed delivery
4. Chicken catching
5. Bedding delivery for the arrival of each flock
6. Delivery and pick-up of eggs (for breeder barns)
We reward GNP Company contract growers with a steady, reliable monthly
income that helps supplement other farming activities. In addition to a
monthly income, we further reward bonuses to growers based on quality
and efficiency. The standard “new barn” partner agreement is 10 years,
after which point most growers own their barns, creating an investment for
their futures. After the initial 10 years, the contract becomes an automatically renewing flock-to-flock partner agreement, and GNP Company continues
to make monthly payments. A more detailed average cash-flow example
is provided to all new family farm partners who are actively
recruited.
Here’s an example
of how it works:
Average barn size:
37,440 feet
Estimated monthly net income: $1,100/month (during the first 10 years while the barn
is being paid for)
After the barn is paid for, you own it: $3,400/month (rent income/cash flow, based on
2010 figures)