In Maryland, some chicken farmers say they are not too happy after the Delmarva Poultry Industry decided to rebrand. On Thursday, the decades-old organization revealed its new name the Delmarva Chicken Association.
Virgil Shockley a local chicken farmer and member of the organization says he feels this rebranding wasn’t necessary.
“The blood sweat everything else that goes into making an association great and to in the middle of a pandemic all of a sudden change your name I’m not too sure it was the best play that could’ve been played,” said Shockley.
The Delmarva Chicken Association tells 47ABC they chose to rebrand in order to grow and stay relevant. They say although the Delmarva Poultry Industry brand was successful they felt it didn’t represent their new focus on advocacy, membership relations, and education.
They add fewer people were familiar with the old brand.
“Whether it’s the next generation of people within the chicken community, or whether it’s the next generation of people within our Delmarva,” said Holly Porter, executive director at the Delmarva Chicken Association.
“I think less and less people necessarily recognize who we are,” said Porter.
On top of that, they say the new brand will help lawmakers understand what they’re about and that they represent both chicken growers and companies.
But Shockley feels what they need to do is to round up more people to pick up the fight in Annapolis.
“Not all bills in Annapolis want to promote the poultry industry on the Eastern Shore, so in order to get that you have to have you need different perspectives,” said Shockley.
The Delmarva Chicken Association says they also have a new logo that better reflects their current focus and mission.
