Tyson Foods will build a $300 million chicken production complex in Humboldt, Tenn. It should create more than 1,500 local jobs when it begins operations in late 2019.
The plant will produce pre-packaged trays of fresh chicken for retail grocery stores nationwide and is expected to process 1.25 million birds per week. The payroll and payments to farmers from the new operation, along with its purchase of grain and utilities, is expected to generate an annual economic benefit to the state of Tennessee of $150 million.
A chicken complex is comprised of a processing plant, hatchery, a feed mill and related operations, in and around Humboldt, Tyson explained. The plant will be located within the Gibson County Industrial Park, just north of Humboldt, and the company will contract with area farmers to raise chickens.
This is the second project Tyson Foods promised to Tennessee this year. In August, the company announced an $84 million expansion of its Union City operations, which is expected to create about 300 jobs in addition to the more than 1,000 jobs currently at the facility. Including Union City, the company currently operates four facilities in the state, employing about 5,000 with an annual payroll of more than $181 million.
