"Pastured Poultry" is a grassroots movement that focuses on farm-scale production and direct-marketing to consumers. It provides supplemental income in rural areas but is limited by the number of birds a producer can realistically produce and market from the farm. Pastured poultry producers report good demand, but market penetration is not deep, since most consumers do not have direct contact with farmers. Producers typically use genetics designed for confinement systems. An industry is emerging from the grassroots movement but it remains uncoordinated. In France, free-range poultry produced under the Label Rouge national certification system command 30% of the market at high premium prices. Specialty pastured genetics are used. Label Rouge started as a grassroots movement 40 years ago. We propose to examine the feasibility of applying Label Rouge features to the grassroots movement and emerging industry in the U.S. Integrated production, processing, and marketing trials will be conducted on-farm to compare specialty genetics to standard genetics. Sensory analysis will be performed on the meat. We will carry out a farmer-led analysis of the feasibility of developing coordinated supply chains based on the French structure, and work with private certifying agencies to analyze the establishment of a quality label certification system.
Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications of Research: The results of our Phase I investigation will provide an understanding of the potential that the French Label Rouge system holds for U.S. poultry farmers and factors affecting the adoption of specialty genetics, coordinated supply networks, and a national certification program. We believe the potential is substantial since the natural and organic food sectors are rapidly growing. According to the Hartman Reports, 52% of Americans want to buy "green". The goal of the project is to improve economic sustainability for small farms and rural communities.
