October 8, 2012 – HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Aviagen recently hosted the three young poultry farmers who are the recipients of the 2012 Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Producers Association’s (CBHEPA) young farmers program at the company’s facilities in Huntsville, Alabama. This year’s CBHEPA young farmer program recipients are Ben van Steenbergen from Hepburn, Saskatchewan, Timothy van Steenbergen from Hepburn, Saskatchewan, and James Malda from Barrhead, Alberta.

The visit to Aviagen was an opportunity for the three young farmers to learn more about the US poultry industry and receive information about latest management advice and best practices including nutritional advice, veterinary, biosecurity objectives, production planning, shipping and export processes, as well as the latest Ross parent stock and broiler performance data. To get a close look at management practices, Canadian Technical Manager Mark Belanger accompanied the visitors on a tour of an Aviagen hatchery, the company’s Egg Depot, pullet and breeder farms, and a customer facility.

“On behalf of Aviagen, I’d like to congratulate Ben, Timothy and James on being selected as this year’s recipients of the CBHEPA’s young farmers program,” said Scott Gillingham, regional business consultant for Aviagen, Inc. “The young farmers program is a great opportunity to help prepare the next generation of production managers for future success in the global poultry industry and Aviagen is proud to be a part of the program.”

These young Canadian farmers have been working alongside their families in the poultry business from very young ages and plan to pursue careers in the poultry industry.

Aviagen is committed to sharing knowledge and best management practices with our customers and young poultry professionals to ensure they get the best possible performance from our birds. Aviagen’s investment in customer education is further illustrated through a series of regional Production Management Schools around the world.

About Aviagen
Aviagen is the world's leading poultry breeding company, developing pedigree lines for the production of broiler chickens under the Ross, Arbor Acres and Indian River brand names.  The company is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, with a number of wholly-owned operations across the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, Brazil, India, Australia, New Zealand and the USA and joint ventures in Europe, South Africa, Turkey and Asia. Aviagen employs 3,200 people and has a distribution network serving customers in 120 countries.  For further information please visit www.aviagen.com.