A Crucial Project for Food Security
Our only poultry farmer and a founder of Heritage Foods, Frank Reese, is doing nothing less than preserving the last commercial flocks of non factory farm poultry in the USA – a sad statement for biodiversity and food security. We've created the Good Shepherd Conservancy — a 501(c)(3) non-profit — to ensure that this alternative survives and grows.
There are over nine billion unhealthy, suffering, Cornish cross broilers and industrial hybrid turkeys being raised in the United States each year. The immunocompromised and near identical genetics of all these birds is controlled by two large multinational corporations.
Remarkably, Frank Reese and the Standardbred birds on his small Kansas farm are providing the country's only commercial alternative to the factory farm poultry system. Since Frank Reese is the last remaining commercial breeder of Standardbred poultry, we must preserve his lines, spread their genetics, and pass on his knowledge.
Whereas you can freeze the seeds of plants and livestock for future generations, the same is not true for poultry. The only way to propagate the breeds is by maintaining their living bloodlines. That is why breaking ground on the Good Shepherd Conservation Center has never been more important.
The Center's Grand Barn will host 10 exhibitions one on each of the market breeds of poultry which we're saving from extinction. These live exhibits will flank an engaging educational journey that will take consumers from the birth of Standardbred American poultry, to the founding of the first factory farm, and the creation of the chicken McNugget. The Center will also be an agritourism site and a training ground for the farmers and breeders that will repopulate our farms and dinner tables with these historic and strong breeds.
We’ve just broken ground on the first building, but this is only the first step. Please consider making a donation to the Good Shepherd Conservancy and secure Standardbred heritage poultry for generations to come.
There are over nine billion unhealthy, suffering, Cornish cross broilers and industrial hybrid turkeys being raised in the United States each year. The immunocompromised and near identical genetics of all these birds is controlled by two large multinational corporations.
Remarkably, Frank Reese and the Standardbred birds on his small Kansas farm are providing the country's only commercial alternative to the factory farm poultry system. Since Frank Reese is the last remaining commercial breeder of Standardbred poultry, we must preserve his lines, spread their genetics, and pass on his knowledge.
Whereas you can freeze the seeds of plants and livestock for future generations, the same is not true for poultry. The only way to propagate the breeds is by maintaining their living bloodlines. That is why breaking ground on the Good Shepherd Conservation Center has never been more important.
The Center's Grand Barn will host 10 exhibitions one on each of the market breeds of poultry which we're saving from extinction. These live exhibits will flank an engaging educational journey that will take consumers from the birth of Standardbred American poultry, to the founding of the first factory farm, and the creation of the chicken McNugget. The Center will also be an agritourism site and a training ground for the farmers and breeders that will repopulate our farms and dinner tables with these historic and strong breeds.
We’ve just broken ground on the first building, but this is only the first step. Please consider making a donation to the Good Shepherd Conservancy and secure Standardbred heritage poultry for generations to come.