Case Farms was founded in 1986 by Tom Shelton when he “bought a family-owned operation called Case Egg & Poultry” (Cut To The Bone, Michael Grabell). Today, the company owns four plants. With the growing demand for chicken, Shelton realized the plants needed to become more automated, and needed more labor.
Originally hiring the Amish to work the factories, the Amish quit because the work became too demanding. Thern they turned to Latin American Immigrants. Many of these immigrants “found the conditions intolerable” (Michael Grabell) and they also quickly left. Case Farms found itself a worker problem but soon found a solution. Refugees from the Guatemalan Civil War were fleeing the country by the thousands from the danger. Case Farms jumped on the opportunity to hire these undocumented individuals, many of which are