I Am CALS: Summer Lanier

Summer Lanier took her first trip down three escalators into a massive trade show for the poultry industry more than 20 years ago as an NC State University student.

Her eyes widened at the exhibit halls in Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center — large enough for semitrucks to drive into and outfitted with a tram system that ferries people down a carpeted road from one end of a hall to the other, past exhibitors involved in every aspect of poultry production.

“It is unimaginable if you’ve never seen it,” says Lanier, who has returned to the trade show over the years as a poultry production professional and a student talent recruiter. 

As the new executive director of the North Carolina Poultry Federation, she took in the 2026 International Production & Processing Expo with fresh eyes. “To truly understand the modern marvel that is our industry, you have to see this show to appreciate the size, scale and complexity of poultry production,” she wrote on LinkedIn, adding that it still takes her breath away.

In leading the N.C. Poultry Federation, Lanier is eager to meet with poultry and egg producers across the state and tour their production facilities. “My vision is to be present, to be a part of conversations that we’ve either not been a part of or maybe have been absent from for a while, and then build relationships,” she says.

What Lanier calls her “zigzaggy” career path to the statewide position includes growing up on a poultry farm, earning three degrees from NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and working for Prestage Farms in multiple roles. 

Poultry Since Preschool

Lanier was born in Durham, but when she was 3, her parents bought a farm in Bladen County. Her dad raised turkeys and beef cattle as well as hay and silage. Her mom went back to school to become a teacher.

Lanier describes herself as a “feral, free-range kid” growing up. The family farm was the first turkey operation for Prestage Farms in Bladen County, and it became the company’s largest farm until  her dad’s retirement in 2016.

Though she spent her spare time cutting hay, working cows and helping her dad, Lanier didn’t take part in FFA or 4-H during high school, thinking that she’d study something other than agriculture in college.

“I don’t really remember ever wanting to go anywhere but NC State,” she says, although no one in her family had attended. She enrolled in First Year College, an exploratory program to help incoming freshmen choose a major.

Animal and Poultry Science at NC State

Gravitating toward animals, Lanier began an animal science degree, unaware of the poultry science options at NC State. A year into her coursework, she took an elective course, Poultry Science and Production.

“I had the legendary Dr. Carm Parkhurst for Poultry Science 201, who sucked me right in and I never left,” Lanier says. “I was far enough into animal science that I finished that degree, but I added poultry science and got both. And then I started working late in my junior year at the Turkey Unit for Dr. Jesse Grimes, who convinced me to go to graduate school.”

That’s also when Lanier was able to quit her overnight job four days a week, allowing her to take part in the Poultry Science Club and earn points for the poultry expo trip to Atlanta.

As an undergraduate, she reconnected with her now husband, Matt, who graduated from NC State with a degree from CALS’ Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering.

In graduate school, Lanier’s research with Grimes focused on testing prototypes of nipple drinkers to supply water in turkey barns.

“We were the ones that tested and then provided that data to those companies for them to use in making modifications,” Lanier says. “It’s neat to see those drinkers in turkey barns now and know that I was on the other side of that at the very beginning.” She also helped test direct-fed microbials used in raising turkeys without antibiotics.

After completing her master’s research, she switched to a teaching appointment during a leadership change in the department. She taught poultry science classes for NC State’s two-year Agricultural Institute and did 4-H poultry work at the state level.

She first met Bob Ford, longtime executive director of the N.C. Poultry Federation, during a discussion about support for state-level 4-H poultry programs. Afterward, she mentioned her interest in working for the federation to Grimes, who had invited her to the meeting, and he told her she wasn’t qualified yet.

“And I said to myself, ‘But I will be one day,’” Lanier recalls.

Production to Public Relations

For 19 years, Lanier worked for the family-owned Prestage Farms, holding a variety of roles. She was hired for field research, doing field trials within the company and some service work.

“I loved my time in production,” Lanier says. “My career path is very zigzaggy, but that was because I took a lot of opportunities that a lot of people don’t get, and the Prestages gave me a lot of latitude to explore those opportunities.”

She then did a variety of special projects, including creating a turkey internship that mirrored the hog internship program she’d participated in as a student. Lanier eventually led both programs and added a third internship in feed milling.

After Lanier worked on content for the company website, the late patriarch Bill Prestage invited her to take a full-time public relations role following her predecessor’s retirement. “I thought it could be fun talking about production all the time, and you don’t really turn him down.”

She returned to NC State for the two-year NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission Agricultural Leadership Development Program, which she completed in 2014. “I give Dr. Bill Collins credit for putting me in the program and truly advancing my leadership trajectory,” Lanier says.

Next, Lanier shifted from PR to a challenging assignment in production: producing antibiotic-free turkeys for a major customer. “That’s a daunting thing to take on for a lot of different reasons,” Lanier explains. “Turkeys are long-lived birds. So to raise them without the aid of pharmaceuticals is a challenge. The other piece of that was meat labels, which are very heavily regulated. You can’t put ‘antibiotic-free’ on a label without a program that’s third-party audited and provides the government with proof that you’re doing what you say you’re doing.”

Lanier succeeded, and the company continues to produce antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed turkeys today.

Leadership Opportunity

When the NC Poultry Federation announced in 2025 that Bob Ford would be retiring, Lanier told her boss, Scott Prestage, she wanted to apply. He told her, “Go do it.”

Her wide range of experiences helped Lanier land the role. 

“I’m very fortunate to have had all those opportunities, and I’m grateful to the Prestages because I wouldn’t be prepared for this giant role without all those experiences,” Lanier says.

Currently, Lanier’s traveling across the state to meet with farmers and tour poultry and egg production facilities. She’s on a listening tour to learn all she can about what producers need and to support the $44 billion poultry industry in North Carolina, which employs over 130,000 people.

“Not everybody gets to know their purpose before it’s too late, and I have such gratitude that I not only found it, but that they let me fulfill it,” Lanier says. “Now it’s my job to run with it, so we’re going to turkey trot all the way to the finish line.”