Tyson Foods officials announced on Wednesday a proposal for a new $136 million, 200,000-square-foot processing plant in Green Forest near an existing poultry operation in Northwest Arkansas. Tyson officials made the announcement during a meeting of the finance committee of the Carroll County Quorum Court.
The new plant is contingent in part on the approval of certain tax abatements from the Carroll County Quorum Court as well as sales and use tax credits from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC).
“The project would allow us to better serve our foodservice customers through improved product mix and greater efficiencies,” said Noel White, Tyson’s president of poultry. “This is the first new plant construction project Tyson Foods has proposed to build in a number o years, and we’re hopeful we can partner with Carroll County and AEDC to invest in our home state,” White said.
The Green Forest plant currently produces a variety of partially cooked chicken products for foodservice and retail customers, including nuggets and portioned fillets. The new plant, across the street from the existing plant, will increase the facility’s partially cooked capacity and increase efficiency by reducing transportation of products to other locations for further processing. The development of the new plant would not change the number of chickens grown for operations in Carroll County.
Tyson purchased the Green Forest plant in 1967. The facility currently employs more than 1,250 people. The new plant would create about 85 new jobs once it is fully operational. Construction would begin as early as this summer with completion sought by late 2017, Tyson said.
