The following is a transcription of Poultry Times’s The Coop Scoop: Episode 8 with Marvin Childers, President of The Poultry Federation. To listen to the full episode, click below.
Lauren: Welcome to this week’s edition of Poultry Times’ The Coop Scoop, where we are cracking open the latest in poultry industry news. I’m Lauren Hunter, publisher for The Poultry Times, back again with my co-host and esteemed editor, David Strickland.
David: Hello, Lauren. Glad to be here again. I know it’s gonna be a great episode this morning.
Lauren: It really is. Today we are pleased to welcome Marvin Childers, president of the Poultry Federation in Arkansas. Marvin, thank you for joining us today.
Marvin: Thanks for having me. Look forward to visiting with you.
Lauren: Well, we are certainly looking forward to it as well. I understand that the Poultry Federation just wrapped up its annual poultry festival and it was a jungle theme this year. How did this year’s event go?
Marvin: Yeah, Lauren, we had a great festival this year. This was our 65th annual poultry festival wrapped up, uh, two weeks ago. Went through June 19, 20, 21 in Rogers, Arkansas. As you probably know, this festival has become one of the largest poultry industry festivals in the country and this year was no exception. We had record numbers for the festival. We had great weather. You look at our activities, we had a golf tournament. We had 288 players in the golf tournament. We had 140 people shooting trap and had 66 teams in a bass fishing tournament. Followed up on Saturday with our all member cooking competition with 34 barbecue cook teams. So it was a busy weekend for us at the poultry festival.
Lauren: Definitely sounds like it. Wow. I didn’t realize it was that large. And you said you had, how many players be in the golf tournament? 288?
Marvin: Yeah, 288. Yeah. We had two two separate golf courses, morning and afternoon flights. So it was a big weekend for everybody in the poultry industry.
David: I was looking at some of the events on the agenda, like how did the pickleball go? That’s very trendy right now. I’ve never played that in my life. How did that go?
Marvin: So, you know, it, our pickleball, uh, we thought would be a, a huge success. We actually had to scrap the pickleball because we had no, no one sign up to play.
David: Like I just said, I’m not gonna knock this sport, but I’ve never done it.
Lauren: David and I are gonna come out there if y’all do it again next year. Marvin, we’re gonna come out there. David and I are gonna dominate the pickleball tournament.
David: Yeah, well, you’ll have two contestants at least that way.
Lauren: We’ll just play each other.
Marvin: We’ll get some folks there if y’all come.
Lauren: There we go. Now, did y’all do any sort of like fundraiser or fundraising or anything during the poultry festival?
Marvin: Yeah, so the, the festival is, you know, it’s a, it’s an annual event and like I said, this was our 65th and it, it has become like a vacation for many people in the industry. I mean, they plan around this event all year long and they’ll come on Wednesday and stay through Sunday. Uh, to participate, uh, in the festival. It’s, um, our, our sponsorships, uh, this year were up, uh, uh, for the festival. Uh, it’s just a, it’s a huge weekend and provides a, uh, about one half of the revenue to fund the federation events in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. So we are a tri-state organization. We’re pulling people from Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas to the festival.
Lauren: Got it.
David: Yeah. That’s for people who may not know listening, I know the, the, the Poultry Federation, you know, they know your home base in Arkansas, but you represent other states as well. You do represent Oklahoma and Missouri as well. So, uh, you tell us a little bit about that. ’cause there, there might be some people who don’t, who, who aren’t aware of that.
Marvin: Yep. So back several years ago, um, you know, the, the companies that are based in northwest Arkansas all have birds in Oklahoma and in Missouri. And it just became, uh, you know, it was a obvious decision by the board of directors to say, hey, we’re, we’re better off at, uh, strength in numbers and we changed the name from Arkansas Poultry Federation, or Missouri to just the Poultry Federation, and we joined all three states together, uh, and just we think became stronger in numbers. Uh, and then were able to pull in other companies that were maybe just in Oklahoma or just in Missouri to be a member of the Federation. So it’s worked out great for us. We have a presence in. Oklahoma City, uh, presence in Jefferson City, and then our home base is in Little Rock.
Lauren: Yeah. Thank you for explaining that. Did you all have any sort of meeting while you were at the Poultry Festival? I know some federations, they, they include some time for like all of their members to come together and meet about certain issues.
Marvin: Yeah, so let me tell you a little bit about the, the festival itself. It’s, uh, it’s basically known as a celebration of the industry, uh, weekend. And what we try to do is to, uh, bring everybody together, uh, and not to have, uh, a lot of educational meetings or. We do have events and so as I mentioned, we have the golf tournament trap shoot, the bass tournament. Uh, but on Friday night, uh, well back up on Thursday night, we actually had a welcome reception and this year we were fortunate because, uh, on Thursday night, Luke Bryan was playing at the amphitheater next door to the, to the, uh Embassy Suites. And so we got, we have access to the Walmart Amp because we actually have our concert there on Saturday night and we were able to, to secure 135 uh, tickets, uh, with private seating up in Choctaw Plaza, which is the top of the Walmart Amp. And it was fabulous. I mean, uh, the weather was great. We got, we got to go early, uh, had a private, you know, our seating was private and there were four or five different bands that played before Luke Bryan. And then unfortunately, uh, Luke had problems with his voice and he tried his best and did a, did a, I thought did a great job. He, at the very end, he said, this is not my best. This is the third time this has happened to me in Northwest. So, uh, you’re all getting your money back.
Lauren: Oh, wow.
Marvin: Yeah. And, and they had sold 10,000 tickets to the concert. So Thursday, that was the Thursday night, uh, welcome reception on Friday night, we actually host a scholarship auction and this has become, uh, uh, an event that draws lots of people. We have over a thousand people who attend that scholarship auction. All of our items are donated by our either poultry companies or our allied members. And this year we had 109, uh, silent items and we had 15, uh, live items. And in an hour and a half we raised $73,531. So. A hundred percent of that money goes to scholarships. And scholarships include, uh, scholarships to trade schools, or two year or four year institutions, higher education. And our application basically says you have to be seeking a trade or a degree that might lead you to the poultry industry. So there’s not many people who wouldn’t qualify if they just apply.
Lauren: How many scholarships do you all give out?
Marvin: So, uh, we give out about 30, anywhere from 30 to 40 per year. I think last year we awarded about $153,000 in scholarships. Wow. That’s a good scholarship amount for anybody who’s, who’s going to school.
Lauren: I mean, any, any little bit helps, but sounds like if you do about $73,000 in an hour and a half, you could fund each one of those scholarships, and it’d still be a pretty sizable amount for each one of them.
Marvin: You bet. And, and we also have a nutrition conference every year. And. Our nutrition conference, the, uh, revenue net revenue from that nutrition conference goes to scholarships and they are awarding PhD nutritionists. Some will get as much as $15,000 a year. So the scholarship program is very healthy and you know, the festival is an opportunity for people in the industry to give back. I mean, I noticed this year at the auction, we had so many re scholarship recipients who are now in the industry and are either donating an item or bidding on an item to give back to the program, which provided them an opportunity to get an education. It’s a, it’s a great event.
Lauren: That’s really great. I mean, I’ve heard a little bit about how difficult it is nowadays to bring in the younger generation and to get them interested in a career in poultry. And so to hear that you have a scholarship program that is alive and well and have so many recipients that end up going into the industry and then end up coming back, it’s, it just sounds like it’s a wonderful cycle.
Marvin: It really is. We also have a partnership with a Arkansas Money and Politics, a publication in Little Rock this year. The AMP featured the poultry industry in their may issue. In that issue, there’s a two page spread on one of our scholarship recipients. His name is, uh, Seth Hufford. If you get a chance, you could Google, uh, Seth Hufford, Arkansas Money and Politics and see the article, and he really just tells the story about this is an opportunity that he is seizing. He would not be able to do this without the assistance of the scholarship program. And it’s just a great article. Kudos to Seth for even being willing to talk with the editor.
Lauren: Yeah, David and I will, we’ll have to look into that. Maybe we can snag him up ourselves. Yeah, yeah. And get, get an interview with him as well for poultry times.
Marvin: He’s a great young man. His, uh, his father, Billy Hufford works for, been in the industry for his entire career. Just a great family, and I’m sure Seth would be happy to talk.
Lauren: Well, shifting gears a little bit, Marvin, away from talking more about the poultry festival. What are some of the major issues that the Poultry Federation has been tackling this year?
Marvin: Well, this year we had, uh, legislative sessions in all three states, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. One of the things that, uh, we had to deal with in Arkansas was we had legislators file legislation that said if a food animal has been vaccinated. Then the meat should be declared a drug and it would require both a USDA uh label and an FDA food label, drug label. And so we spent a lot of time in public health trying to explain. You know that, uh, number one, I think that violates federal law, but number two, how bad of a policy that would’ve been for Arkansas. And we were able to get, uh, to get that. So that was in the Arkansas session? Yes, in Arkansas. You know, and we played a lot of defense. We were also able to pass some legislation this year. We followed up with the same legislation Oklahoma passed two years ago, and that was to say if a poultry grower. Has a nutrient management plan that is approved by the state, and the grower follows that nutrient management plan. Then the grower is immune from civil liability from third party actions. Basically just saying, hey, if the state’s gonna require the plan, the state’s gonna approve the plan and the grower follows the plan. The grower should not be sued by third parties who were able to pass that legislation this year in Arkansas.
Lauren: What was the result of that first bill you were talking about? Did it, did it make it through the house or the Senate? Where does it stand?
Marvin: The one on the drug label? Yes. So that bill actually passed out of the Senate with an agreement that he would amend it in the house and take meat and eggs out. Um, and it actually ran out of time and couldn’t get the amendments on it. So the bill died in the, uh, in the house committee.
Lauren: Was that bill really aimed at meat and eggs or was it aimed at something else and meat and eggs just kind of got lumped into there.
Marvin: Initially the sponsor said he was, he was not after meat and eggs. He was actually after vegetables. But, uh. It’s just not the way it was. It’s not the way the bill read. And so we had to simply stay in public health for weeks to try to find a solution. I think he would’ve amended it out. He did amend out meat and then he ran out of time on trying to amend eggs out and so it died in the house committee. I anticipate it back next session.
Lauren: Yeah. That was gonna be my next question as a follow up, do you anticipate that will show back up next year?
Marvin: Yeah.
Lauren: Well, what else are you guys looking at and working on for the rest of 2025?
Marvin: We are doing now is we are assessing, you know, the, uh, production in all three states. Taking a look to see, you know, where Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri ranks. I am in the transition, uh, stage. I’m going to be retiring at the end of the year. Our new executive Vice President, Blake Rollins, has joined us. He joined in, uh, February of 25 and he’s going to, uh, take over and run the federation. Come January one. So we’ve been looking at our, our, where we rank, you know, in broiler production. Arkansas ranks third, uh, Missouri ranks 11th and Oklahoma ranks 15th. So when you take a look at those rankings and then add the three states together, you know, we’re talking about 1.5 billion chickens a year, or 10.5 billion pounds with a value of about $7.8 billion. And so we’re trying to wrap our arms around how do we make certain that we are taking care of the poultry companies that are producing those chickens, and then provide opportunities for our allied members who are selling goods or services to those poultry companies. And how we provide networking opportunities for the Allied and the poultry companies, and I think that’s what builds the Federation. I will say, you know, we’re fortunate to be located where we are. Because we’re home based to Tyson Foods, Simmons Foods, George’s, all in Northwest Arkansas. And so we know that our allied companies send their, uh best and brightest, you know, to home offices. And so we wanna make certain that we have a presence close to that home office, and we wanna make certain that we provide those networking opportunities for those allied members. I think that’s, we just happen to be fortunate to be located here and, and that provides us a, an advantage. You know, if you look at Turkey production, Arkansas ranks third, Missouri ranks fifth, but just in the Turkey, you’re talking about 40.5 million turkeys a year, over $775 million in value. So again, once again, how do we provide that, that value to those companies who are producing, uh, Turkey, and how do we provide those Allied members with the networking opportunities? Then finally, you know, eggs, Arkansas ranks eighth in the nation in egg production. Missouri ranks ninth and Oklahoma ranks 27th. And when you talk about. All of those eggs, you’re talking about 8.7 billion eggs a year. That’s a lot of eggs. That is a lot of eggs. And so we as an organization wanna make certain that we are providing education to our members, both allied and poultry companies. We want to provide recognitions. To those companies that are, you know, supportive of the federation. Two years ago we started a top 10 contributors. We look at folks who are contributing to the federation, whether that’s by way of attending an educational program. Whether that’s festival, you know, nutrition conference, symposium, food safety, and we look to see what they do in sponsorships. And so we recognize those top 10 and we provide them with an opportunity to have a, a meeting with our board of directors. So the top 10 get to come in and kinda look under the hood and see what happens at the, at the meetings. And provides them with opportunities to say, Hey, I might like to serve on the board, or I would like to serve on a committee. Done this two years in a row. Now it’s really, uh, sparked interest in our allied members to be more involved in the federation. See, you know, how the board actually works on a, you know, monthly basis. It’s been a good, uh, program for us.
Lauren: It sounds like that program is a bit of a win-win for both sides because the Poultry Federation gets to learn about what’s going on within those companies and gets to continue networking with those people while the company representatives also learn what’s going on within the federation and maybe get to connect with people that they wouldn’t otherwise in other states.
Marvin: Absolutely. I mean. We always say it’s, you know, it’s, it’s our job to provide the opportunities for those, those people doing business to just network. We have a regular board meeting. They get to sit in and, and to, to listen to the board meeting. And then we have, uh, an afternoon of fun and then we’ll have dinner and then come back for the, the next day and just to kind of, uh, finish up on the meeting. And then everybody goes their way.
Lauren: Marvin, you mentioned this earlier, so I’ll go ahead and and go back to it. For those who haven’t heard you are retiring at the end of the year. Congratulations to you.
Marvin: Thank you very much. It’s been a great ride for me. I came out of the legislature. I in, uh, 2006 joined the, the Federation January 1st, 2007. I think I’ve got my years right there. And, uh, you know, we’ve, we’ve had a, we’ve had a great run. We were in a very older building and. Mr. Don Tyson was visiting one afternoon and he was on his way to see the governor, and he said to me, he said, Marvin, this building looks old. I said, well, Mr. Tyson, it is old. He said, well, do you wanna remodel or you wanna build a new one? I said, well, I’d like to build a new one.
Lauren: The answer is always build a new one.
Marvin: Mm-hmm. And he said, well, we’ll start out like this. He said, I’ll give you a million dollars and you go to all of my competitors and you raise another million, and then you’re gonna, you’re gonna have to put some skin in the game with the federation dollars. And he said, and then if you run short, you come back to. So our board had a meeting and we voted to pursue building a new building. We hired an architect and 18 months later we moved into a about a 4,500 square foot building where less than 150 yards from the front door of the state capitol. We’ve been on this corner for 50 plus years. We have a, uh, a beautiful building that’s, uh, accessible to members of the General Assembly or anybody actually in state government. We have a large conference room and all of the administrative staff is on the opposite end of the building. So that’s been a, something that I’m very proud of to have shepherd us through that, uh, building of the new building. I have thoroughly enjoyed the 19 years I’ve been here. My dad always told me, he said, if you find something that you love to do, you’ll never have to work. That’s kinda the way I feel. I, I’ve enjoyed the, the process. I, I love serving in the legislature, but I’ve enjoyed the government process. Handling all the government relations for both the poultry companies and the allies, and I’m very pleased to say that I think I have found a replacement that will take the federation to the next level. I think Blake has the experience and expertise. He’s an Arkansan as a master in Ag law from the, from the Ag Law Center here in Fayetteville. Ready to go to work. So I look forward to seeing what Blake can do for. Take us to the next level.
Lauren: You’ll appreciate this story, Marvin. We have had the pleasure of speaking with Blake a couple of times about different topics, and when I reached out to him about being on the podcast, he said, well, I would love to do it, but he said, I, you need to let Marvin go first. He said, let Marvin have his moment. Let him enjoy. Going into his retirement and, and reflect on all that he’s accomplished. And then maybe after the first of the year when Marvin’s taken his victory lap, I’ll, uh, I’ll come on and do the podcast. And I said, yes, sir. We understand.
Marvin: That’s great. He, uh, Blake’s gonna do well. He’s had that opportunity to, to be here since February. We’ve got the festival behind us. We have the nutrition conference in the symposium left. And then it’s, uh, me trying to make certain that Blake is, uh, up to speed on, you know, the day-to-day operations of the federation, all of the financial portion.
But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he will take us to the next level. He is prepared that Blake is originally from Conway, Arkansas. He’s so, he’s actually coming home and we are thrilled to death to have him and I’ll be watching for his podcast soon.
Lauren: Well, Marvin, we really appreciate you taking the time to be on the coop scoop this week.
Congratulations again on such a distinguished career. It doesn’t seem like 2007 should be 18, 19 years ago, but here we are. But I know that you, uh, undoubtedly you’ve accomplished a lot, done a lot during your tenure other than. Mr. Tyson coming in and offering you a million dollars to build a new building. Is there any other special memory or achievement from your time with the Poultry Federation that you would like to share?
Marvin: You know, there’s lots of, without mentioning company names, there’s lots of, uh, like sales and use tax audits that I’ve been able to work on and to successfully, you know, deliver money back to the companies. Uh, we’ve worked closely with, uh, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to. Assist companies in, in locating plants in Arkansas or a building of feed mills, and to see the incentives we’ve been able to, uh, deliver. Those are all just success stories that just take, uh, relationships and being at the right place at the right time. Helping the companies. I mean, that’s kinda what I, I feel like my job when I took over was to make certain that we help the companies, we help the allied members, and we provide them opportunities to network. And, you know, I’m, I’m proud of the work that we’ve done over the 19 years I’ve been here.
Lauren: Absolutely. Marvin Childers, president of the Poultry Federation. Thank you again so much for joining us on this week’s edition of the Coop Scoop. David and I have enjoyed speaking with you. Well, David, I won’t speak for you. I’m sure he’s enjoyed speaking with you.
David: It, it’s, it’s been great speaking with Mr. Childers and I know this, uh, um, um. First of many times, we’ll probably tell you we wish you all the best for your future endeavors, and we appreciate every time you’ve, uh, uh, contributed to help us out with, uh, with our, with our work as well.
Marvin: And thanks to both of you, uh, enjoyed the visit.
Lauren: Thank you. And please let us know if we can help you with anything else.
Marvin: Thanks.
Lauren: Thank you for joining us on this week’s episode of Poultry Times’s The Coop Scoop. Please note that the opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of poultry times or our advertisers. Join us next week by visiting Poultrytimes.com or your favorite podcast platform. If you have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please email us at contactus@poultrytimes.com.
