People, Family & Community Involvement

Peco understands the importance of where we come from and the needs for conservation of natural resources. With business based upon agricultural principles and the reliance upon many resources that are not "man-made", Peco focuses on our responsibility to the communities in which we live and operate.

In focusing on environmental stewardship, we have undertaken objectives in/to:

• Water conservation programs utilizing flow controls, re-use/recirculating systems, and control valves in the plants.
• Advanced water treatment facilities. Estimated savings of over 50 million gallons of water annually in utilizing this form of water re-use.
• Storm water run-off management programs
• NRCS approved Nutrient Management Plans to aide in controlling litter abatement usage and to reduce runoff phosphate dispersal into ground water along the Mississippi river basin.
• Encourage our growers to purchase through cost sharing programs; litter amendments to lessen ammonia production and decrease fuel costs. As part of our litter management program we focus on maintaining good litter quality and minimizing the need for clean outs and dispersal of litter.
• Upgrade equipment to minimize fossil fuel usage in plants
• Purchase equipment and support of upgrades to farms in order to improve efficiencies and reduce power and fossil fuel resource demands.
• Implementation of "Wetlands" projects.
• Work with reputable 3rd party providers for pest control services to minimize the usage of pesticide and insecticides utilized at facilities.
• Utilization/minimization of waste byproducts through optional sources for fats, breading, and offal.

Peco provides high quality poultry products that meet our consumers needs. We are continuously aiming to increase the value of our products through improvements in food safety, reduction of ingredients, and the marketing of our products. Peco is fully committed to producing a finished product that is considered “First on Any Menu."

In impacting our business relationships, we undertake initiatives for/to:

• Implementation of "ALL-NATURAL" brand items that can be used in a variety of production processes and packages for consumer use. ALL- NATURAL labeled items comply with FSIS regulatory guidelines.
• Producing live birds that do not utilize added hormones for growth. Each of our products qualifies as No Hormones added meeting required FDA regulatory guidelines.
• Full compliance to current Global Food Safety Initiatives. All plants and processes are monitored by annual 3rd party audits to the BRC version 6 standards.
• Annual 3rd party animal welfare and husbandry audits of all live production facilities. Peco utilizes industry best practices and supported health plans to ensure proper treatment of the animals that we depend on for the success of our business.
• Work with national chains on conversions of products to lower sodium items, low trans-fat oils, and natural flavoring ingredients.
• Ensure that the consumer receives accurately labeled identified products with proper ingredient declaration.

Often in the business world, we spend as much time in the workplace as we do outside of work. With this philosophy, we strive to achieve standards and ideas at work that are similar to what we would do in our homes.

At Peco, we focus on:

• Implementation of recycling programs.
• Utilization of specially designed PPE to reduce consumables and laundry needs.
• Utilization of plastic reusable product totes and containers to replace cardboard boxes for shipping internal products. Saves consumable packaging and waste on over 3 loads of product per processing day.
• Improving transportation efficiencies by maximizing capacity on loads hauled, and improvements in miles per gallon by service fleet.
• Utilization of auto shutoffs, inverters, capacitors, high efficiency lighting and power save technology to reduce power demand. Extensive work with local utility companies and outside contractors on ways to improve on electrical energy demand.
• Programs for salvage of recyclable scrap metals.
• Utilization of rail car systems for transportation of feed supplies and goods to reduce transportation diesel fuel consumption, and carbon emissions.
• Implementation of Behavioral Based Safety Programs to promote an environment of empowerment for our teams to identify areas where both opportunities for improvement and good things exist. Each team member is important and valuable and we expect to provide them all the tools necessary to return them safely to their families each and every day.
• Changes to consumable goods utilized in our business daily. Modifications, changes and minor tweaks in our process allow us to reduce the amount of consumable corrugated boxes, wax materials and plastics needed in our process.