Average U.S. poultry production during the 12 months through November is down 0.5 percent compared with the year-ago level.

In May 2016, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) published a new recordkeeping rule, titled “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses,” fundamentality changing the process and purpose of employer reporting of work-related injuries and illnesses.

For 31 years, Thomas Shelton has watched Case Farms grow from two employees (counting himself) and zero plants to approximately 3,200 employees, four processing plants, one further-processing plant, three feed mills and four hatcheries in Ohio and North Carolina today.

In February 2017, editor-in-chief Andy Hanacek visited with Thomas Shelton, chairman and founder of Case Farms, for an exclusive interview at his home. What follows is a portion of their discussion on the company’s past, present and future:

Overall sales of poultry were down less than 1 percent in 2016 from 2015 because of a decline in poultry prices as well as total volume of poultry sold, according to Chicago-based Mintel International’s Poultry U.S. report, published in November 2016.