Strategic Move Allows Company to Buy More Local Grain

MILLSBORO, DE – May 31, 2019 – Mountaire Farms, the country’s sixth largest chicken processer, has purchased a new grain storage facility in Dover, Del., to allow the company to buy more local grain to make feed for chickens, the company announced this week.

The purchase of the Cartanza Grain Facility, located on Little Creek Road in Dover, will help Mountaire buy more local grain from Kent and New Castle County farmers. It also offers local farmers more competition when it comes to selling their grain.

Built in 1977, the Cartanza facility has the capacity to store more than 1 million bushels of grain. It also has a grain dryer which is key to being able to buy local grain.

“We are grateful to the Cartanza family for allowing us to continue the legacy they’ve built,” said Adam Downes, who oversees the Agri-Business Department of Mountaire Farms. “Buying local grain is important to us and maintaining those relationships that they have established through the years is going to be our number one goal.”

Mountaire Farms now owns 13 grain storage facilities on Delmarva: two in Virginia (Painter and Eastville), five in Maryland (Trappe, Queen Anne, Ridgely, Millington, and Westover) and now six in Delaware (Harrington, Townsend, Seaford, Frankford, Millsboro and Dover).

“We are proud to be a part of Agriculture on Delmarva and blessed to be able to continue to grow here” said Mountaire President Phillip Plylar. “Our Agri-Business team works very hard to provide the service our farmers require.  We believe this helps set Mountaire apart as a company.  We simply appreciate this new opportunity to earn business from more local farmers in the region.”

“With the majority of the grain produced by Delaware’s farmers feeding Delmarva’s poultry, I am pleased to see Mountaire’s commitment to family farmers throughout our entire state,” said Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse. “Cartanza Grain Storage has been a long-standing family agribusiness and it’s important to farmers that they are able to do business locally. By acquiring this facility, Mountaire is ensuring that farmers will continue to have local options when selling their grain.”