About Us History

2002: Boyd Station begins operations as agricultural commodity and transloading facility. Feed ingredients are sourced by railcar and distributed by truckload to area feed manufacturers.

2004: Extruders and presses are installed to begin processing local soybeans into feed ingredients. The processing facility enables the business to complement its existing conventional feed commodity product line with a unique line of expelled soy products, made with local soybeans and all-natural processes, to serve premium all-natural feed mills.

2008: Additional extruders and presses are added to the soybean processing facility to meet the local demand for an all-natural chemical-free expelled soybean meal feed ingredient with vitamin-rich vegetable fat.

2010: Obtained organic certification and began purchasing and processing organic soybeans into organic feed ingredients to serve the growing poultry and dairy feed market.

2015: Production begins at a new 100% dedicated organic processing facility that operates separately and independently from the existing processing facility, adding capacity to meet organic demand and providing complete segregation of organic processing, handling, and storage.

Cotner Farms, a related business to Boyd Station, raises laying hens, grades and packages eggs, and produces its own feed for the hens. It began full scale egg production in 1972 with a flock of 50,000 laying hens and under the leadership of Don Cotner has grown to approximately ten times that size. The business has remained independent in an increasingly concentrated market through its focus on egg quality and customer service. The most critical factor in egg quality is the health of the laying hens, which is largely determined by the quality of the hen’s diet.While its corn needs have been sourced from local farmers for decades, soybean meal was sourced from out of state due to lack of local soybean processing capabilities. When the opportunity arose in 2004 to begin feeding its hens expelled soybean meal, Cotner Farms first tested the new product on a single flock and tracked performance over a period of 12 months. The results exceeded expectations and soon all Cotner Farms’ hens were converted from a conventional diet to an all-natural, vegetarian diet. Upon full conversion, the business experienced sharp improvements in overall bird health and laying performance that have been contributed to its fundamental mission of egg quality and customer service.

Our involvement in central Pennsylvania agriculture began in 1912 upon George Washington Cotner’s purchase of 181 acres of fertile, but hilly farmland in Rush Township, Danville, PA. He wanted to build his own agricultural venture independent from his siblings in neighboring Sunbury. George’s son, Donald Cotner, took over the farming operation following his father’s passing in 1929, and grew the amount of acreage farmed and introduced dairy operations.Over the years that followed, the farm employed innovative practices to the region and gained recognition for its work in soil conservation. Most notable among these practices was the introduction of no-till farming, which minimizes surface soil erosion and nutrient runoff, critical factors given the area’s hilly terrain. In recognition of over 50 years of practicing soil conservation, Donald was named Pennsylvania Conservation Farmer of the Year in 1988 and a top ten finalist for the National Conservation Farmer award that same year.

Today the farm manages approximately 1,500 acres of corn, soybeans, and barley according to the same principles of soil conservation and sustainability that earned these accolades in earlier years. 100% of the grain that Cotner Farms grows on its farm goes into the diet enjoyed by the laying hens on the property, either directly into the feed or indirectly through the expelled meal and soybean oil purchased from Boyd Station.