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Farmer’s Pride

Farmers Pride Inc. recently completed its expansion project at its facility in Fredericksburg, PA.  The major intent of this project was to increase storage capacity for finished goods by adding a +34°F Cooler, a +28°F special packaging room, and a -10°F Freezer.  A new combination shipping and receiving dock is included as well to expand the traffic capacity of the facility.

Adding a new Deboning Room also increased the process floor space.  This room houses a tremendous amount of custom-made equipment for production needs.  Acid-proof brick flooring, tile walls, and galvanized structural steel members provide finishes able to withstand the harsh chemicals commonly used during washdown operations.  This +50^oF Deboning room is serviced by a chilled and filtered make-up air unit to provide clean fresh air for maximum food safety.  Use of trench drains allows for easier clean-up and less wear and tear on devices being moved across the floor.  Immediately adjacent to this room are supervisory and customer observation areas with one-way viewing windows.

Other new areas added included an Engine Room, Maintenance Areas, Laundry Room, Clean-Up Rooms, and Dry Storage Space.  Consolidation of offices previously housed in a trailer into the main facility was accomplished by adding a new office addition on the northeast corner of the construction project and by demolishing the existing storage freezer for conversion to an additional Maintenance Room, Offices, and a Quality Assurance Laboratory.

This building expansion included the construction of a new yard vehicle storage facility with space for metal fabrication and storage.  Also included was the addition of a larger guardhouse to provide more control and security for access to the site.

Extensive site work was performed to provide for expanded employees parking behind the guardhouse, for trailer storage, and tractor parking with electric heater block connections.  The site immediately adjacent to Main Street was changed to accommodate improved car parking.  Site grading and storm water control was established in a manner to provide collection of contaminated storm water separately from non-contaminated storm water.  A unique feature incorporated was a “first-flush” system that collects the initial contaminated water, and then bypasses the larger volume non-contaminated water.  The system involved a two-tier exterior trench drain at the dock doors to collect any contaminated discharge from trailers being loaded or emptied.

The +34°F Cooler was installed with a freezer floor slab construction to allow for future conversion to additional +28°F special packaging area.

Room finishes were selected to provide for durable surfaces appropriate to a USDA inspected food production facility while striving to provide cost control over the construction budget.  The addition provided eight (8) additional dock doors, with a dock height of fifty-two inches (52”).

Farmer’s Pride is the leading producer and processor of all natural, premium quality, antibiotic free fresh chicken.  They market principally under the "Bell & Evans-The Excellent Chicken" brand name and their products are available in natural food supermarkets, butcher shops and white tablecloth restaurants. WEBBER/SMITH Associates, Inc. of Lancaster, PA acted as the Engineer and Architect of the project.  The multi-phased project cost nearly $8 million and took over three years to design and build.