Department of Poultry Science Mission

The Department of Poultry Science provides a multidisciplinary approach for scholarship in teaching, research, and service to the poultry industry. Our mission is four-fold:

1. To provide undergraduate education in the avian sciences and associated discipline areas through established majors in Animal Bioscience and Animal Sciences;
2. To provide graduate education for students in the animal sciences as well as those in related disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs;
3. To conduct research that ranges from fundamental to applied, with many projects having direct application to Pennsylvania's commercial poultry industry;
4. To communicate results of research and to provide leadership to the poultry and allied industries, governmental agencies, and other academic institutions. Our overall goal is to be recognized nationally and internationally as a center for scholarship in poultry science.

A Brief Overview of the Pennsylvania Poultry Industry
The Pennsylvania poultry industry is the second largest agricultural commodity in the Commonwealth, contributing almost $600 million in farm gate products in 2002 (poultry statistics). Pennsylvania is the leading producer of poultry and poultry products in the Northeast region and a major poultry producer in the United States. Nationally, Pennsylvania ranks third in egg production, eighth in turkey production, and fourteenth in broiler meat production. Approximately 1,500 contract and independent poultry farmers in Pennsylvania produce eggs and poultry meat. Within the state, there are six major poultry meat processing plants, a further processing plant for poultry meat, fifty table egg processors, two cook and peel egg processing plants, and a major egg-breaking plant. These plants employ over 2,200 people who are directly related to the production efforts of poultry in Pennsylvania. Many more allied industry employees and other support industry personnel are also involved in the PA poultry industry. Representatives of poultry and allied industries participate in a Research Check-Off Program, which provides funds for applied research projects targeted toward Pennsylvania poultry industry needs.

The PennAg Poultry Council is a communication and advocacy tool for the poultry industry in Pennsylvania and was established following the merger of the former Pennsylvania Poultry Federation into the council structure of PennAg in 1998. The council represents growers, integrators, processors, hatcheries, equipment, feed companies, vaccine companies, and advisors for everything from broilers to eggs to turkeys to game birds for the conventional and live bird markets. Council committees include the Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program (PEQAP), Poultry Health, Research, Egg and Meat Bird, Scholarship, Special Events, and Executive, which is the leadership arm of the organization. The council's goals are to:

1. Provide regular updates to the poultry industry on research, trends, and other pertinent items;
2. Increase media representation in order to increase exposure of the council in state and national publications;
3. Explore ways to implement research and provide a forum for industry to offer suggested research topics;
4. Increase efforts to promote food safety to consumers and to develop partnerships with retailers/grocers to improve food safety education in stores;
5. Increase industry involvement in state poultry contests and to begin to develop incentives for the best students to consider careers in poultry science; and
6. Expand and enhance relationships with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, specifically with regard to poultry health issues, the PEQAP program, avian influenza, and biosecurity.