LONGMONT - Butterball LLC, a Raleigh, N.C.-based turkey producer, is laying off 210 employees at its Longmont processing facility and grow-out operations - contractors and farmers who raise the turkeys - due to the increased cost of feed.

Company officials did not immediately provide a breakdown of the number of jobs cuts for the facility in Longmont and grow-out operations. The company had 920 employees in Longmont, according to the most recent data researched by the Boulder County Business Report.

The company is reducing its turkey placement and slaughter operations at the facility, which will result in the job losses. Butterball said its feed costs have increased by more than $300 million the past two years because of "government policies that mandate ethanol production as part of the Renewable Fuel Standards."

"Reducing placement and slaughter operations at the Longmont facility is, sadly, the most economically viable measure our company can take," said Keith Shoemaker, chief executive of Butterball, in a statement. "Congress and the administration have been cautioned since at least 2005 that consequences such a plant reductions, closings, higher unemployment and higher food costs would result from our nation's current renewable fuels policy."