Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Peco Foods Plant Bringing 1,000 Jobs to Northeast Arkansas

4 min read

A northeast Arkansas economic engine was born in the midst of a deadly and catastrophic ice storm that ravaged the region in 2009.

The ice storm that struck in late January, destroyed much of the electrical grid in Clay, Lawrence, Randolph, Sharp, and Craighead Counties, leaving thousands without power for weeks. As the chaos unfolded, a group of local officials came together to form the Northeast Arkansas Regional Intermodal Facilities Authority.

The goal of the Authority was to bring jobs to an impoverished section of the state hit hard by the Great Recession, according to officials at the time. The organization included Randolph, Clay, and Lawrence counties and the towns of Hoxie, Walnut Ridge, Pocahontas, and Corning.

That objective was somewhat met in the spring 2014 when Peco Foods Inc. announced it was building a massive poultry processing plant and hatchery in Pocahontas and feed mill in Corning.

More than 1,000 jobs in the region will be created directly by the plant and feed mill once operations begin sometime this year, according to information released by the company.

Peco, the eighth largest poultry producer in the U.S., according to the National Poultry and Food Distributors Association, started its Arkansas’ operations in 2011 with a poultry processing plant in Batesville and a feed mill in Newark.

Since the Peco project was announced, the Authority hasn’t been able to land another major job producer and has been without a director since former Director Wayne Gearhart resigned in December 2015. The Authority also lost Clay County as a member.  Authority commission member Nick Manatt said the organization is hopeful a new director will be hired soon.

“We’ve got a number of good prospects … hopefully we’ll have more information (about the new director) at the June meeting,” he said.

Industrial sites in the member counties and towns were identified and promoted to perspective job creators, officials said. Each governmental body funds the Authority.

Randolph County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tim Scott said the best site in the three-county area is a swath of land along U.S. 63 near the confluence of the BNSF and Union-Pacific rail lines along the Walnut Ridge/Hoxie city border.

It’s one of the few spots in the country that has access to two railroads, three major highways, and one of the largest airports in the state, the Walnut Ridge Airport, he said.

One fledgling company, Integrated Renewable Resources, was extremely interested in the site, and the Authority spent nearly two years trying to land them, according to information released.  The deal fell through in late 2011.

Manatt has been perplexed by the lack of interest in that particular industrial spot.

“It doesn’t make any sense … I don’t know why we haven’t had more prospects for that site,” Manatt said. “It’s an excellent spot. There’s no other way to look at it.”

In 2015, Lawrence County Judge Dale Freeman threatened to remove his county from the Authority because he said he didn’t think enough was being done to promote job growth in his county. After several heated meetings, Freeman decided to stay with the regional organization.

The Lawrence County site will be the main objective once a new director is in place, Manatt said. Another priority will be to try and bring Clay County back into the fold and lure other regional governmental entities such as Sharp or Jackson counties into the fold.

Even as the Authority searches for a new director and members, its pinnacle project is nearing completion. The project was originally set to be complete in January 2016, was pushed back to March, and officials did not comment on a current timeline.

Peco Foods Inc. has reportedly spent $200 million on the processing plant in Pocahontas, and the feed mill located in Corning. The processing plant alone is 272,000-SF, according and it sits on 200 acres in the city’s southern industrial complex.

Farmers have built more than 1,000 chicken houses within a 50-mile radius of the new plant. Several residents, especially in Randolph County, have voiced concerns about damage that will be caused to rural roads by the poultry and feed trucks, and about the smell that will be caused by the chicken houses.

Some were also concerned about the lack of housing for new workers and how local school districts might be affected by an influx of students who don’t speak English. These concerns were expressed during a series of public meetings after the announcement.

The economic opportunities that will be brought by Peco cannot be underestimated Manatt said. Not only will more than 1,000 jobs be created, the chicken houses, trucks, and feed will also create more jobs and spur economic activity.

“When Peco announced they were coming here … it was the biggest announcement of my lifetime,” Manatt said.  

Send this to a friend