LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Alabama-based Peco Foods says it will build a new poultry plant, hatchery and feed mill in northeast Arkansas in a $165 million operation expected to create 1,000 jobs in two rural counties.

Gov. Mike Beebe announced the development Monday alongside Peco Foods President, CEO Mark Hickman and other local and regional leaders. The company plans to build in Randolph and Clay counties with the first phase of groundbreaking planned for next month.

Peco Foods is receiving more than $4.5 million in state and local incentives with additional tax breaks planned.

Hickman says the company picked Arkansas because of its "outstanding workforce," noting that its existing poultry plant in Batesville has been a success.

Based in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Peco Foods is the eighth-largest poultry producer in the country.


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