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CapitalPress.com
November 20, 2015
People & Places
Poultry producer focuses on quality products
By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press
HANFORD, Calif. —
Chickens, turkeys and ducks
weren’t on Mary Pitman’s ra-
dar when she studied child de-
velopment at California Poly-
technic State University in San
Luis Obispo.
Then she met her future
husband, Rick, who was in-
volved in his family’s poul-
try operation, which began in
1954.
Now, she says, Mary’s Free
Range Chickens represent the
gold standard for high-end
customers concerned about
taste, lack of hormones and
animal welfare.
Her concern for food fol-
lows her own quest for good
health.
“For 30 years I was not well
and found it difficult to raise
my three boys as I was trying
figure out why I was sick,” she
said, adding that every time
she ate she became ill.
With the help of her dentist,
she traced the problem to the
mercury fillings in her teeth.
“The day I had my mercury
fillings removed, I got my life
back,” she said.
Pitman said her struggle
helped her understand why
many consumers seek puri-
ty in their food and want to
know the source of their food.
“Consumers want to eat
healthy and that is the reason
I want my name on our prod-
ucts,” she said.
Pitman’s farm follows the
five-Step Animal Welfare
Rating System of the Virgin-
Western
Innovator
Mary Kathryn
Pitman
Hometown: Hanford, Calif.
Family: Husband, Rick,
three grown sons and their
families
Occupation: Customer ser-
vice, Pitman Family Farms,
Mary’s Chickens, Turkeys
and Ducks
Courtesy of Pitman Family Farms
Mary Pitman of Pitman Family Farms in Hanford, Calif., believes in no crates or cages and poultry
without additives or preservatives are key to the success of Mary’s Turkeys, Mary’s Chickens and
Mary’s Ducks.
ia-based Global Animal Part-
nership. The regulations:
• No cages, crates or
crowding.
• An enriched environ-
ment.
• Enhanced outdoor ac-
cess.
• Pasture centered.
• Animal centered, physi-
cal alterations prohibited, and
animals live their entire life
on an integrated farm.
Mary’s California Bronze
Chicken was the first prod-
uct in the nation to achieve a
“Step 5” rating, she said.
Pitman Farms raises free-
range chickens, heritage tur-
keys and ducks.
“The white broad breast
turkeys only take 3½ months
to grow out, and the heritage
birds grow out in 7½ months
and cost much more to raise,”
Pitman said. “These turkeys
fly and we have to pull them
out of the trees.”
Her poultry is recognized
among foodies. “America’s
Test Kitchens” and “Cooks
Illustrated” named Mary’s or-
ganic chicken the most recom-
mended chicken in the nation.
The Pitmans have added a
hatchery, a pet food line and
a facility that manufactures
non-genetically modified feed.
Bill Mattos, president of
the California Poultry Federa-
tion, acknowledged the Pitman
family and their contribution
to California agriculture.
“Pitman Family Farms
is one of California’s fast-
est-growing poultry compa-
nies,” he said. “It is one of
the only family operations
that processes chicken, tur-
key and duck. The brand
— Mary’s — is well known
in many white table cloth
restaurants and in supermar-
kets featuring free range and
organic products.
“Their innovative opera-
tion features many processing
plant procedures found in very
few United States operations,”
he said.
Education: California Poly-
technic State University, San
Luis Obispo, Calif.
Quote: “We are grateful
that our third generation,
family-owned business is
still going.”
David Pitman is the incom-
ing chairman of the California
Poultry Federation, the Pit-
mans also supply chicken and
other poultry to live bird mar-
kets and ethnic processing op-
erations both in San Francisco
and Los Angeles areas. They
care about their customers, and
constantly ask them what they
want from the Pitman Family
Farms operation.”
“My husband is a humble
man and always said that his
job is to create jobs for other
people,” Pitman said. “This is
what America is all about.”
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Capital Press
Several Washington FFA
teams ranked highly at the re-
cent National FFA Convention
and Expo in Louisville, Ky.
Britte Harder, Abigail Mc-
Gregor and Jason Wigen from
LaCrosse, Wash., placed first
in the nation for their market-
ing plan competition team,
against 31 teams. Wigen is
state reporter for the Washing-
ton FFA.
Cassidy Boyd, Kandace
Brunner, Jordan O’Donnell
and Olivia Abbott of Cash-
mere, Wash., placed second
out of 43 meats evaluations
teams at the convention. Boyd
placed ninth individually out
of 165, winning a $400 schol-
arship.
Hannah Lynch, Delaney
Strutzel, Ellie York and Sami
Sykes placed fourth out of 36
food science teams. Lynch
placed fourth out of 144 con-
testants, winning an $800
scholarship.
Harder, a junior at La-
Crosse High School, said it
was “overwhelming” to come
in first.
“We were pretty consistent
with our presentation, we had
a solid run and the questions
they asked us, we answered
Courtesy LaCrosse FFA
LaCrosse FFA adviser Lisa Baser and marketing plan competition
team Jason Wigen, Britte Harder and Abigail McGregor meet with
sponsor representative Jason Corman of Bunge North America.
The LaCrosse FFA team placed first at the FFA national convention
in Louisville, Ky.
Courtesy of Cashmere FFA
Cashmere FFA members Delaney Strutzel, Ellie York, Sami Sykes
and Hannah Lynch placed fourth in the food science competition.
very well,” she said.
The team put together a
marketing plan for Dixon Land
and Livestock’s annual club
calf sale in Pomeroy, Wash.,
increasing revenue with ad-
vertising and other business
propositions. The group be-
gan practicing last December,
often after school, Harder
said.
Harder has been in FFA
since the eighth grade.
“I really like being com-
petitive,” she said. “I know if I
study hard and put in the time
and effort, then I’ll succeed.”
She expects to apply the skills
she learned in FFA to whatev-
er career she pursues, still to
Courtesy Cashmere FFA
Cashmere FFA members Cassidy Boyd, Jordan O’Donnell,
Kandace Brunner and Olivia Abbott placed second in the meats
evaluation competition at the FFA national convention.
be determined.
Lynch, a senior at Cash-
mere High School, said her
teammates practiced together
one or two times a week and
studied as much as possible.
Adviser Rusty Finch recruited
the team, she said.
“It was just something that
we decided we were going to
put our heads down, do the
work and do our best so that
we could get to nationals and
be able to compete,” she said.
Lynch started in FFA in her
sophomore year. She enjoys
being able to compete and
still participate in sports. She
is considering a biotechnolo-
gy or a pharmacy degree.
LaCrosse FFA adviser Lisa
Baser previously took anoth-
er team to the national FFA
marketing plan competition.
In 2008, she coached the team
from Pomeroy High School,
where her husband J.D. was
the FFA adviser at the time.
She credited her LaCrosse
team with being “intelligent
and hard-working.”
“Just giving them some-
thing that will challenge them
and push them, I think is the
big key there,” Baser said.
“They knew they were go-
ing to be successful, but they
were going to have to work
really hard, and that’s what
they did.”
Finch said his teams have
placed in the top five in the
last three years. Like Lynch,
his students often balance
FFA with sports, school,
church and other activities, he
said.
“They’ve been competing
athletically and other ways,
but one of the neat things
about FFA is they get to apply
what they’ve learned, usually
with real world-type appli-
cations,” he said. “It allows
them to be employable and
apply skills and knowledge
they’re going to utilize in the
future.”
Couple preserves Nebraska farm from future development
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) —
A Sarpy County farm is shield-
ed from future development
after a deal that started seven
years ago has helped turn it into
the second-largest patch of pro-
tected property in Nebraska’s
smallest county.
The Omaha World-Her-
ald reports that Ron and Carol
Patterson’s 693-acre farm is
permanently protected by sell-
ing conservation easements de-
signed to shield it from incom-
patible land uses and excessive
development.
The farm consists of four
parcels owned by the couple
and other families.
“Imagine what you could do
with this 700 acres,” Ron Pat-
terson said. “You’re talking lots
of money and a huge develop-
ment. But we couldn’t stand it.”
County officials designated
11,000 acres as the county’s
most important and vulnera-
ble environmental district that
should be persevered after the
Pattersons and other landown-
ers in the bluff have advocated
for preservation, but they want-
ed more protection.
According to the couple,
they have been fighting to save
the Schramm Bluffs above the
Platte River on their property
from development before they
learned about the easements
from Dave Sands, executive
director of the Nebraska Land
Trust. Easements are voluntary
legal agreements that perma-
nently prevent commercial and
residential development of a
site.
Landowners who grant con-
servation easements reduce the
value of their land through re-
linquishment of development
rights. According to Sands, the
Pattersons donated a significant
portion of their easements by
selling them for less than their
appraised value.
Other partners in the deal
included the Papio-Missouri
River and Lower Platte South
Natural Resources Districts,
eight foundations and several
individuals.
The couple says they wanted
to preserve not only the farm-
land, but also the woodlands,
creeks and historic American
Indian sites on the property.
According to Carol Patter-
son, “It’ll be here after we die,
nice and green and welcoming
to Omaha and Lincoln.”
Friday, Nov. 20
Agri-Business Council of Ore-
gon Denim & Diamonds Auction,
Dinner & Awards, 5 p.m. Oregon
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Index
Dairy .....................................11
Livestock ..............................11
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Wolf ....................................... 4
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