Pure Prairie Poultry Plant in Charles City, Officials in Dark

A Minnesota judge approved the sale of the bankrupt Pure Prairie Poultry (PPP) chicken processing plant in Charles City to Community Bank and Trust (CBT) on June 3rd.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture MIke Naig says his office, as of last Wednesday (06.18), had not heard from the new owners, though he’s not surprised.

The plant’s closure last October put some 140 people out of work. It also left PPP chicken suppliers in limbo.

When plant operations ceased, it cost the state over $2 million dollars to care for approximately 1.3 million broiler chickens owned by PPP and, then, after failing to secure a buyer for the birds, the state had to euthanize them all.

Naig says some laws have been changed in the wake of the PPP downfall.

In addition to the state’s cost, there’s still the question of how the plant failed despite receiving over $38 million in grants, USDA loans and other funding sources.

According to Minnesota court records, former Pure Prairie board member Michael Helgeson joined the bank to enter “credit bids” to purchase the facility, meaning they traded the right to extract $27.8 million in debt from the chicken plant, in exchange for the plant itself, with CB&T allegedly offering $25.7 million and Helgeson $2.1 million.