The new facility is expected to start production in January 2014. Initially employing 360 people, it may add more employees to staff a second shift.
Shipping approximately 1 million lbs. of raw refrigerated and frozen turkey products daily to brand-name food processors in the US and around the world, Farbest Foods is one of the largest turkey producers in the country. It oversees the production of its own turkeys – totaling more than 10 million per year – and the company currently produces 1,800 tons of turkey feed each day using locally grown corn, soy beans and other agricultural products.
Farbest officials chose the Vincennes site based on the availability of locally grown grains; the potential for contracting new turkey-growing farms in the tri-state area; and the support it received from officials of Vincennes, Knox County and Indiana’s Economic Development Corporation and Department of Agriculture.
Farbest will also soon start construction on its second turkey feed mill – JFS Milling – in Bruceville, Ind., located in northern Knox County. The new mill will employ up to 30 people once at full capacity.
Farbest plans to invest approximately $75 million in the Vincennes plant; a projected $20 million in the Bruceville milling facility; and about $54 million in creating 60 new turkey-growing farms. Forty more turkey-growing farms will be needed when the company launches a second shift.
