Fieldale Farms and Georgia’s Poultry Industry

Tom and Lee Arrendale of Tiger, Georgia, and Joe Hatfield of Mt Juliet, Tennessee, grew up during the Depression. After World War II, the Arrendales expanded their family’s feed business into one of the largest Purina feed dealerships, and Hatfield built chicken processing businesses in Gainesville. Ralston Purina bought the feed business from the Arrendales and the Gainesville Fryer Company from Hatfield in 1962 and hired the three men as managers. In 1972, the Arrendales and Hatfield acquired Purina’s north Georgia poultry operations and combined their last names to create Fieldale Farms. Fieldale’s success helped establish Gainesville as “the poultry capital of the world,” and poultry as one of Georgia’s most important industries in the second half of the 20th century. Headquartered in Baldwin, Fieldale Farms is one of the largest privately held poultry producers in the world. Erected by the Georgia Historical Society and Fieldale Farms