Tyson receives incentive package to increase poultry production

The town of Wilkesboro, North Carolina, have agreed to pay a total of US$67,000 to Tyson Foods Inc. in an incentives package that seeks increased production at the company's local poultry plant.

Under the agreements, according to the Wilkes Journal Patriot, Tyson's average weekly production must increase to at least 7.2 million pounds, from 5.5 million pounds, in the company's fourth quarter, or July 1 to September 30.

A Tyson manager said the plant currently processes 1.4 million chickens weekly, down from an earlier weekly volume of 1.95 million birds.

Wilkes County agreed to pay US$50,000 on October 31 or within 30 days after Tyson paid its taxes. Wilkesboro agreed to pay $17,000 by October 31 or within 10 days after Tyson paid its taxes, according to the newspaper.

In late January, Tyson stopped production on a processing line for birds weighing an average of 4 pounds amid a reconfiguration to process birds with an average weight of 6 pounds.

The slowdown's impact on the local economy was significant. Tyson, for example, accounts for nearly 60 percent of capacity of Wilkesboro's water and wastewater treatment plants, and is both the largest employer and taxpayer in Wilkes County.

Tyson manager Mark Welborn explained the company's decision to reduce the number of chickens processed and why it asked the local governments for help.

Welborn said at that time the company were experiencing some pretty heavy losses as a poultry company and in the industry as a whole.

He said that their goal is not to go back to the number of birds processed but an equal number of pounds that they were processing before.