Pilgrim’s Pride operations expected to remain normal

Local Pilgrim’s Pride operations in Enterprise are not expected to change after the company announced significant loss expectations for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008.

However, officials said plans for a feed plant between Midland City and Pinckard are not clear.

The annual projected economic impact for the project is $60 million.

“All I can tell you at this point is that we are currently evaluating all capital expenditures,” Ray Atkinson, company corporate communications director, said in an e-mail.

Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Parker, who was involved in luring the company to Dale County, said he hasn’t heard of any changes.

Construction work at the Pinckard site continued to be ongoing on Tuesday.

“This project enhances cost structures in their business that should lower their long-term operational costs,” Parker said in an
e-mail.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. is the largest chicken company in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and the second-largest in Mexico, according to its Web site.