LACEY, Wash. – The 29-member Northwest Poultry Council (N.W.P.C.) recently entered into a strategic alliance with the Northwest Food Processors Association (N.W.F.P.A.).

“In the poultry industry, there are factors we can control, and others we can only influence,” said newly-elected NW Poultry Council President Greg Satrum, co-owner of Canby-based Willamette Egg Farms. “The political environment is one we can only influence… On this historic occasion, we are aligning ourselves with the NW Food Processors Association to give us the clout we need in the legislature, the executive branch and agencies to be effective and to fight for our legacy, and our future in the Northwest poultry industry.”

Created in 1914, the Northwest Food Processors Association represents more than 440 food processors and supplier companies in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Employing 283,000 Northwesterners, with a total regional economic impact of more than $42 billion, food processing ranks as the region’s third-largest manufacturing sector.

N.W.F.P.A. provides a wide range of government affairs, food safety, innovation and productivity, special events, and energy efficiency services to its membership. In 2009, the association signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy, becoming the first industrial sector in the U.S. to voluntarily commit to reducing its energy intensity by 25 percent over the next 10 years.

“We welcome this strategic alliance with the Northwest Poultry Council, and the opportunity to form a coalition that will help our region compete, and that will increase the legislative visibility of agriculture and food processing,” said David Zepponi, N.W.F.P.A. president. “Over the summer, we’ll be working together to identify further opportunities for collaboration.”

“This strategic alliance with N.W.F.P.A. brings us into a professional lobbying effort in the Northwest, a program to manage our government affairs, continuity and a voice for our future,” Satrum said. “The alliance with other food processors gives us the critical mass to address our common issues with the influence of the third-largest manufacturing sector in the region.”