The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service awarded Coalfield Development Corporation a $575,841.20 cooperative agreement on March 1, 2026, to establish a federally inspected poultry slaughter and processing facility at Alabama A&M University's poultry unit in West Virginia. The award is made under the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (CFDA 10.175), which supports development and expansion of local and regional food systems. The poultry unit houses both a slaughter facility and broiler rearing facility on the AAMU campus and employs two full-time associates. Performance runs through February 28, 2029. Coalfield Development Corporation, a West Virginia-based tax-exempt community development corporation, typically receives grant awards (70 percent of recent activity) for workforce development, economic revitalization, and environmental remediation services in rural Appalachian communities. The recipient maintains active awards including a $1.2 million Employment and Training Administration Community Project Funding grant for workforce development across twenty-one counties, a $1.5 million Department of Labor Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Dislocated Worker grant for the GROW Appalachia initiative, and an $8.4 million Economic Development Administration award supporting the Appalachian Climate Technology Coalition for clean energy and green-economy job creation.