When innovations enter into a given business, the companies that are the earliest adopters tend to gain an advantage over their competitors. Sometimes though, there is an advantage is maintaining those old traditions.

Last year was a good year for chicken, but not great compared with the above-average years of 2013 and 2014.

It has been a busy couple of years, but the gamble that Butterball LLC has taken to modify its operational approach appears to have paid off, spurred along by several headline-making acquisitions in recent years.

In mid-November, Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief, visited Raeford, N.C., in order to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony and get an exclusive tour of the new Butterball further-processing plant there (which was also still under construction at presstime).