Little Rock - September is National Chicken Month and The Poultry Federation is proud to receive a state proclamation from Governor Mike Beebe, proclaiming National Chicken Month in Arkansas.

The proclamation was presented to The Poultry Federation staff at the Capitol by Governor Beebe.

The proclamation reads as follows.

State of Arkansas
Executive Department

PROCLAMATION

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME – GREETINGS:

WHEREAS:   
The Arkansas Poultry Federation was established in Little Rock in 1954 as a trade organization to represent the poultry and egg industries in the State.  In 1998, the office united with Oklahoma and Missouri to become “The Poultry Federation”, which continues to operate as a trade organization, promoting the poultry and egg industry; and

WHEREAS:
In 2010, Arkansas produced about six-billion pounds of broiler meat, ranking second in the nation in broiler production with one-billion birds.  The value of production that year was $2.86 billion; and

WHEREAS:
According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, a total of 6,089 farms in Arkansas were involved in poultry production in 2007.  Census data showed that more than 2,400 farms produced broilers; and

WHEREAS:
Broiler brought in the largest amount of cash receipts of all of Arkansas’ poultry products, providing close to 37 percent of the state’s total agricultural cash receipts and 80 percent of the total cash receipts from poultry and poultry products in Arkansas, at $2.64 billion;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, MIKE BEEBE, Governor of the State of Arkansas by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim September 2012, as

NATIONAL CHICKEN MONTH IN ARKANSAS

across Arkansas, and I urge all my fellow citizens to recognize the significant economic benefits of the chicken industry to our State.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 17th day of August, in the year our Lord 2012.

Signed:

Mike Beebe, Governor and Mark Martin, Secretary of State

Photo:  Pictured left to right:  Paulette Binkley, TPF Business Development Director, Governor Mike Beebe, and Marvin Childers, TPF President.