ST. PAULS, N.C. – Sanderson Farms has opened a new 180,000-sq.-ft., $155 million processing plant and wastewater treatment facility in St. Pauls, North Carolina. The new facility is the company’s 11th fully integrated poultry processing facility in the US. Sanderson also has a 65,000-sq.-ft. hatchery in Lumberton, North Carolina and a feed mill in Kinston, North Carolina.
The plant, which was built on a greenfield site, will utilize a mechanical wastewater treatment system for recycling wastewater. The recycled water will be used on a neighboring 1,500-acre plot of land owned by the company.
The St. Pauls’ poultry complex will process 1.25 million birds per week for the big bird deboning market and will process approximately 500 million lbs. of dressed poultry meat annually.
In addition to employing 100 contract growers, the deboning facility will employ 1,100 people in the St. Pauls’ community.
“I think it’s probably one of the best things we’ve had in 30 years,” said St. Pauls Mayor Gordon “Buddy” Westbrook. “We need the project. We need the jobs – so it’s great.”
“We’re hiring a lot of good, local people,” said Pic Billingsley, director of development and engineering for Sanderson Farms.
