Quality Assurance Technician

Farmer Focus expands nationally into fully cooked category with award-winning organic chicken line. The brand committed to keeping family farms thriving for generations brings fully cooked organic chicken to market without cutting corners June 3, 2026. 4:15 PM HARRISONBURG, Va. - Farmer Focus is expanding its portfolio with the launch of a new fully cooked chicken product line, marking its entry into the convenient ready-to-heat space. The lineup includes meatballs, skewers, and sausages, bringing the brand's industry-leading standards for organic, humane, traceable, and farmer-first poultry to fully cooked products. There is growing demand from consumers for convenience, 83% of consumers say time-saving meat and poultry options are important during the week (Power of Meat 2026). At the same time, more consumers are prioritizing better-for-you brands and products. Farmer Focus fully cooked items were developed to fill this need for convenience and quality. Farmer Focus is leading a new path forward, proving that fast doesn't have to mean cutting corners. Every product in the new lineup is USDA Certified Organic, Certified Humane, and traceable back to their family farming partners. The full product lineup includes: * Harissa & Honey Chicken Sausage: bold heat balanced with sweetness * Southwestern Style Cheddar Chicken Sausage: a smoky, savory crowd-pleaser * Parmesan & Herb Chicken Meatballs: as good as homemade * Grilled Mediterranean Style Chicken Skewers: fresh, flavorful and versatile All four products have chef-driven flavor profiles, butcher-quality texture, and are high in protein and low in fat. This offers consumers convenient, ready-to-heat options that they can still feel good about. Before it even hit shelves, the lineup earned recognition at the 2026 NEXTY Awards at Expo West, selected from more than 1,000 products for excellence in food innovation, integrity, and sustainability. Entering the fully cooked aisle isn't just a category expansion, it's a new opportunity to amplify the farmers who make this possible, carrying their story and their standards into more kitchens than ever before. Products are available with the following retail distribution: * Kroger Banners: Parmesan and Herb Chicken Meatballs and Grilled Mediterranean Style Chicken Skewers * Fresh Direct: Full lineup, including Harissa & Honey Chicken Sausage, Southwestern Style Cheddar Chicken Sausage, Parmesan & Herb Chicken Meatballs and Grilled Mediterranean Style Chicken Skewers * Mom's Organic Market: Southwestern Style Cheddar Chicken Sausage and Parmesan & Herb Chicken Meatballs This launch marks a defining chapter for Farmer Focus. It's proof that the values that define its fresh chicken can scale, and that convenience and integrity aren't mutually exclusive. It's Chicken for Good, made for real life.

Whistleblower: company behind Farmer Focus chicken falsified wastewater samples, resold 50,000 lbs. of factory-farmed chicken. Published May 28, 2026 by Sara Oliver. Chickens slaughtered and sold by Farmer Focus suffer as terribly as those raised and killed by every other chicken company; Farmer Focus just tries harder to hide it from consumers. PETA already blasted the company for its bogus "humane" claim and its dubious "traceability" claim - but now, a new whistleblower is saying the company's deception goes even deeper. A whistleblower exposed Farmer Focus for discharging high levels of pollutants in wastewater. A whistleblower complained to state officials, claiming that workers at the Harrisonburg slaughter plant filtered wastewater samples to reduce the amounts of harmful particles in them before submitting them to state authorities. A subsequent investigation by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Regional Sewer Authority (HRRSA) has resulted in four Notices of Violation this year alone for violations that include overly acidic wastewater and high levels of "total suspended solids," organic materials, and nitrogen in their sewer water, which eventually ends up in the North River, the Shenandoah River, and the Chesapeake Bay. In other words, the plant has consistently pumped out particles like chicken fat, grease, blood, feces, and more in amounts that are far beyond the allowed limits. These particles can harm public infrastructure and deplete oxygen in waterways, causing harm to aquatic life, and introduce pathogens like E. coli into the public wastewater system. Despite this, Farmer Focus continues to market the chicken flesh it sells as "sustainable." The HRRSA has increased their monitoring of the plant and has repeatedly found that their measurements of these disgusting, harmful particles are much higher than they are in the samples Farmer Focus has provided - lending credence to the whistleblower's claim that the company falsified samples. Farmer Focus brand owner purchased factory-farmed meat. According to two invoices, Shenandoah Valley Organic (d/b/a Farmer Focus) bought more than 50,000 pounds of chicken from massive producer, George's, Inc., and the whistleblower alleges the company resold the factory-farmed flesh. Farmer Focus has built its brand on - and commands premium pricing for - claims that it operates differently from conventional chicken flesh producers, and that it is not "associated with... any other companies." Sourcing chicken flesh from other producers flies in the face of Farmer Focus's claim that "[a]ll of [its] chickens are processed in USDA Organic facilities owned by Shenandoah Valley Organic, Home of Farmer Focus Organic Chicken in Harrisonburg, Virginia." Chickens raised at George's contract farms spend their lives confined to cramped indoor sheds, and their entire existence is not just unnatural, but utter misery of intensive confinement and deprivation. Chickens killed for their flesh suffer regardless of the label. Chickens are arguably the most abused animals on the planet. Every year, U.S. slaughterhouses kill more than 9 billion chickens, who are crammed onto trucks when they are only a few weeks old and experience a terror-filled journey to the slaughterhouse through all weather extremes, regardless of whether or not there is a "humane" label on their packaged flesh. * Conscious birds drowning in overfilled "stunning baths" * Birds still alert and struggling frantically as they approached an automated blade, resulting in gashes on their faces and bodies * Employees often botching the manual cutting of birds' throats * Many chickens were still alive and aware when their heads were pulled off George's slaughterhouses also have an appalling track record. Public records obtained by PETA reveal that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has repeatedly warned George's for incidents including a worker "forcefully" throwing a live chicken against a wall and running over another with a forklift, more than 2,500 chickens found dead after being left overnight on trucks in temperatures as low as 37 degrees, birds drowning in hot water, thousands of birds dying of heat stroke on transport trucks en route to its slaughterhouses, and a bird "buried up to the neck" in feces. Some chickens have even been burned alive at their slaughterhouses. The label may change - but the suffering does not. Whether chicken flesh carries a "humane," "traceable," or any other label, or are sourced from a conventional supplier, the animals endure the same systemic cruelty when exploited for food. Chickens shouldn't suffer: here's how you can make a difference. Every animal is someone. Chickens deserve so much better than the deceptive labels "humane" and "welfare" certifiers slap on the packaging of their broken bodies. Don't trust the label - trust your values. Instead of supporting the killing of billions of birds, you can enjoy chicken-free wings, nuggets, or a patty. There are loads of vegan chicken meals to try that will wow your taste buds without harming any chickens.

In a decisive move impacting grocery shoppers across Southern Maryland, Shoppers Food, a supermarket chain with 22 stores in Maryland and Virginia, has ceased selling chicken from Harrisonburg-based Farmer Focus.