CANTON -- Producing 20,000 chickens for the North Country marketplace is the topic of an information and organizational meeting 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2 at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Learning Farm, NYS Hwy. 68.

Those interested in sharing ideas about opportunities for the regional production, processing and sale of chicken are invited.

Meeting organizer Betsy Hodge, a small ruminant educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County, says the idea for producing all the chicken needed to feed the people of the North Country on North Country farms was raised several years ago at a conference at St. Lawrence University.

“Since the idea of supplying chicken to the regional need, many farmers have started raising poultry and selling it to local restaurants and at farmer’s markets. While local farmers cannot compete with the big chains that sell chicken for $1.99/lb, they are finding consumers willing to pay a little more for locally raised birds with no added salt water and produced in a more natural way,” Hodge says.

Hodge is looking to organize a group that would invite speakers to help local poultry producers increase their knowledge of both the production and business sides of raising poultry and the business.

Brian and Ann Bennett of Bittersweet Farm in Heuvelton produce organic chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, grains and herbs for direct sale to consumers and to regional restaurants. Brian says, “There is potential here in Northern New York for farmers to cooperate and coordinate their production to help meet the demand for a local product.”

For more information contact Hodge at 379-9192 or bmf9@cornell.edu.