North Iowa chicken industry still reacting to closure of Pure Prairie Poultry | News [Video]

CHARLES CITY, Iowa.-Several chicken farmers in North Iowa are still struggling with the loss of Pure Prairie Poultry, a chicken processor which closed its doors due to bankruptcy on Oct. 2.

According to Leon Kruse, a small time chicken processor and farmer in Fort Atkinson, the loss of the business has forced many farmers who relied on it to sell their birds at a loss as they try to find new buyers in the market. 

According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, around the same time the Charles City plant closed its doors, it took custody of the plant’s 1.3 million broiler chickens located across 13 farms after the company admitted it could no longer feed them. 

After several attempts to find a new home for the birds the department decided to put the birds down on Oct. 17. 

“It’s sad when the state has to get …