<b>By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN<br>
Michigan Correspondent</b></p><p>

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The establishment of the Michigan Turkey Producers Cooperative (MTPC) 10 years ago may have saved the state’s turkey industry.<br>
At the time, a group of 15 turkey producers committed to keeping the industry alive banded together to create the MTPC after Sara Lee, Michigan’s major live turkey processor, announced it no longer needed Michigan birds.<br>
“Growers had no place to take their turkeys,” said Dan Lennon, MTPC president and CEO.
“They either had to build their own plant or go out of business.”
Since its establishment, the cooperative has grown from selling only live turkeys to selling a variety of turkey-based products. Today’s in-state buyers include companies such as Sysco, Gordon Foods and Superior Seafoods and the company sells product throughout the nation and internationally, as well.<br>
Because of the cooperative’s innovative practices and evolution in the industry, the group recently received the Michigan State University Product Center award for the Most Successful Business Transition. Center Director Chris Peterson said one reason it was selected for this honor is the cooperative’s inventiveness.
“It was exciting to recognize some of our more innovative and interesting clients,” he said.<br>
Tom Kalchik, MSU Product Center associate director, said product uniqueness was another key factor in determining the award.
“For us, the key to value-added is differentiation,” Kalchik said. “How do you differentiate your product from everything else that’s available out there on the market?”<br>
Lennon said incorporating value-added products into the co-op’s lineup had been planned since the company was formed. The original production plant was an idle French-fry facility that had been out of business for two years. <br>
After buying the building in June 1999, the MTPC converted the site into a state-of-the-art live processing and raw meat plant that began operating in March 2000.<br>
By 2001, the cooperative had started producing its flavored raw boneless roasts, sausage and burgers.<br>
“We knew from the beginning that we didn’t want to be a 100 percent commodity processing plant,” Lennon said.<br>
To earn its place in the fresh cooked turkey industry, MTPC began planning an expansion to add its new cooking facility. Built in 2005, the new plant creates a variety of ready-to-eat turkey products that are sold to food service and retail customers nationwide.<br>
The plant originally included two ovens, with an annual capacity of about 10 million pounds of cooked product. With continuing success, Lennon said the plant already has expanded, adding two additional ovens with a total annual capacity of about 24 million pounds of cooked product.<br>
“We still have a lot of room to grow,” Lennon said.<br>
Business for the cooperative is booming. Its 16 member producers, which collectively include 43 farms in Michigan, produce about 4.5 million birds, or about 120 million pounds of meat, annually. Lennon projects that the company will soon be expanding again to add more ovens.<br>
“If you’re going to play the game, you have to be able to prove to your customers that you can fulfill their needs,” he said.
Lennon is proud of the co-op’s practices, including a live-bird handling system he regards as second to none in the industry.
MTPC developed its own controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) system, which was installed when the slaughter plant was opened.
“We use gas stunning to put the bird to sleep,” he said.
“It gives us a higher-quality product. We have less blood in the meat than other processors and a more consistent-tasting, high quality white meat.<br>
“Now we are no longer just a raw processor. We bring high-quality, fresh cooked meats to the market.”<br>
Lennon accepted the MSU award late last year during the “Grow Your Business” conference at the MSU Kellogg Center in East Lansing.<br>
“I feel like I’m only one person here out of many who contributed to the cooperative’s success,” he said. “We owe so much to the growers and so much to the hard-working employees we’ve got here. Without that group, we couldn’t have achieved our goals.”
Lennon said the MTPC employs 505 people at its two processing plants in Wyoming, Mich., while the cooperative’s members employ about 200 more people on their farms. The company boasts $130 million in annual sales.<br>