Butterball LLC is expanding its turkey production in Arkansas with plans to add at least 30 new farms around the River Valley.
Company officials confirmed their expansion plans Wednesday, saying new farms are needed to help Butterball keep pace with growing consumer demand. Most of the farms will be located within a 50-mile radius of Ozark and Altus, but the company also will consider pushing expansion north to the Huntsville area.
The farm expansion is in addition to the company's decision to recently hire 150 hourly and 14 salary workers for its processing plant in Ozark.
"We've had an increase in business in the last year or so," said Vernon Felts, Butterball nutritionist and senior director of live operations. "So we have a greater need to produce turkeys. We've got more consumer demand. To meet that goal we are increasing our footprint in Arkansas."
Butterball, which is based in Garner, N.C., is the largest producer of turkey products in the United States. According to data from the National Turkey Federation, the company produced an estimated 1.36 billion pounds of turkey in 2015.
About 60 farms in the Ozark and Altus area and 115 around Huntsville currently produce turkeys for Butterball, according to Felts. Additional farms in the area -- most of which will be owned and operated by contract poultry growers -- will add to Butterball's production capabilities.
Felts estimated new farms would cost around $900,000 to build with contract farmers primarily responsible for financing the construction.
Farmers will own the land and the buildings. Butterball will own the turkeys. The company said it provides the feed, veterinary services and guidance through the production of the turkeys, paying contract farmers to manage the birds.
"We may do a handful of company-owned farms down in the Ozark area just because we need that expansion pretty quickly," said Walter Pelletier, who is head of live operations at Butterball. "Our preference would be all contract, but we may wind up doing three, four or even five company-owned farms just to facilitate getting those farms online quicker."
Felts said the Arkansas farms, as well as processing plants in Ozark, Huntsville and Jonesboro, are important to Butterball's operations. Meanwhile, the company continues to play a big role in the turkey industry throughout the state.
Marvin Childers, who is president of the Poultry Federation of Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, said Arkansas ranked third in the nation with 27.5 million p̶o̶u̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶u̶r̶k̶e̶y̶s̶ turkeys* produced in 2015. The total was behind only Minnesota with 41 million and North Carolina with 31 million.
The turkey industry also is responsible for 4,154 direct and 7,857 indirect jobs throughout the state with total wages of about $180 million, according to Childers. The numbers will grow with Butterball's expansion plans.
"That's 30 farmers," Childers said. "Those are not short-term jobs. You build a turkey farm, those jobs are going to be there for a long time."
Butterball's workforce expansion at the Ozark plant began in June and has been finalized, boosting the employee base to a little more than 600 workers. The new staff will help support a second shift that began operations this year.
Ozark Mayor T.R. McNutt said the additional jobs at the plant -- as well as plans to build future farms in the area -- is a "shot in the arm" for Ozark. He said Butterball is probably the town's largest employer.
"They're an excellent employer and neighbor," McNutt said. "They're great people to have in the community. We're really proud that they're progressing. It's a win-win for all of us."
Business on 09/22/2016
*CORRECTION: Arkansas produced 27.5 million turkeys in 2015, which ranked third in the country behind Minnesota and North Carolina. The statistic was incorrect in this story.