Pine Manor Earns Excellence in Agri Business Award
Published: Friday, August 30, 2019
The Elkhart County Agricultural Society has selected Pine Manor/Miller Poultry as the 2019 recipient of the Excellence in Agri Business Award.
The poultry production and processing business has been family owned since 1942, starting in Elkhart County. Operations currently include corporate offices and a chick hatchery, both in Goshen, a feed mill in New Paris and a processing plant in Steuben County.
The extensive history of Miller Poultry dates back many years to a time period when the parent company, Pine Manor Inc., was established. Over the years, the focus of the company has been to produce the highest quality chicken for the consumer.
The business started in 1942, when Annas and Ursula Miller decided to move onto the Pine Manor Farms. At that time, Pine Manor Farms was the home of an upscale dairy farm. From 1945 to 1947, Pine Manor Farms began hatching, raising and processing turkeys.
A turning point came in 1974 as Pine Manor began raising broiler chickens. A short four years later, Pine Manor had begun hatching chicks themselves.
Raising ducklings for Culver Duck Farms in Middlebury was the next step that Pine Manor took in 1985. Pine Manor wasted no time as it purchased Booth Poultry, located in Orland, in 1992. The plant processed 16,000 chickens per week at that time.
Just one year after taking over Booth Poultry, the Miller family decided to expand the production capacity. Within a few years, the weekly processing volume increased to 30,000 chickens per week. Not only did this expand the quantity, it also improved quality and enabled new processing techniques to be implemented.
In the same time frame, Miller Poultry purchased Martin's Feed Mill in New Paris. Significant renovations were made to the feed mill at that time which allowed the quality of feed to be monitored.
A third expansion at the processing plant was initiated in 1997, increasing the processing capacity to 50,000 chickens per week. Further expansions raised capacity to 35,000 chickens per day.
A new automated weigh and cut-up system was installed at the processing plant in 2000.
All of the chickens are hatched at the company's hatchery in Goshen.
The company is now guided Galen Miller and his wife Sue, who represents the second generation of the Miller family. The future of the company appears to be in good hands, as the third and fourth generation are among the roughly 900 workers on the payroll.
Over the past decade, Miller Poultry has increased its production capabilities, now handling 750,000 chickens per week at the plant in Orland, plus another 35,000 per week that are sold to a local buyer. Near-term plans include yet another expansion that will raise the weekly processing capacity to 830,000 chickens per week.
Miller Poultry's chicken appears in stores under five different brands, including Katie's Best, which offers antibiotic-free and organic, Air Chill line that is named after Galen and Sue's daughter. Overall, Miller Poultry chicken can be found at a growing list of retail outlets, including Kroger, Meijer, Whole Foods and Martin's Supermarkets. With the addition of Whole Foods as a retail partner in 2009, the marketing territory for Miller Poultry now reaches into the Rocky Mountain, Mid-Atlantic and Texas regions, among other places.
Having achieved certification through the USDA Organic program, Miller Poultry sources all of its supply of grain, totaling 3 million bushels of organic, non-GMO corn per year, from domestic sources.
In addition, the company has earned certification in the humane treatment of animals.
Miller Poultry's mission statement is "Taste the Difference." This is reflected by its commitment to producing naturally grown poultry in an ethical and efficient manner for consumers.
Pine Manor/Miller Poultry was recognized earlier this week at the Elkhart County Ag Society's annual meeting in Goshen.
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