Ground was broken in June in Freemont, Dodge County, Nebraska where the future Lincoln Premium Poultry complex will be located.  The poultry plant will process chickens exclusively for sale at Costco stores.

Commissioners in Dodge County approved the first conditional use permit for a farm to raise birds to be processed at the plant.  The commission approved the permit, which would allow a farm near the community of Hooper to have four barns and about 60,000 chickens on 900 acres of land.

While no reports have surfaced about farm permits being approved in other counties, the prospect of contract farms have been discussed by commissioners in nearby Madison County.

The Lincoln Premium Poultry plant is expected to be operational by April 2019. Once fully operational, the facility should have the capacity to process about 2 million chickens a week and supply a third of the raw and rotisserie chicken products that will be sold at Costco stores across the United States.

“This facility will create an opportunity for diversification for farmers in the Greater Fremont area.  The producers who choose to build poultry houses will have an opportunity to add another income source to their operation.  All row crop farmers will have a new market for corn and soybeans which will be utilized in the poultry rations,” Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach  said at the groundbreaking ceremony.