Farbest Foods has been given final approval for up to $3.5 million in economic development bonds for improvements to its turkey processing facility in Huntingburg, Indiana.
The Huntingburg Redevelopment Commission on December 19 gave final approval to the request for the bonds after they had been given the endorsement of the Huntingburg Economic Development Commission, Huntingburg City Council and Huntingburg Planning Commission.
The bonds are to be issued from two tax increment finance (TIF) districts. One of those TIF district is the one in which the Farbest facility is located, and the other one encompasses farmland that Farbest owns.
Farbest Foods will purchase the bonds which will be paid from the property and real tax increment increase in the two TIF districts due to the improvements Farbest plans to make, according to the report. Since Farbest will own the bonds, the company is incorporating all the risk if the increment is not enough to pay off the bonds.
The bonds can be used as Farbest Foods, the fourth largest turkey company in the United States, is making $21.7 million worth of improvements to the Huntingburg plant. According to a report by the Dubois County Herald, Farbest Foods’ project includes $13.5 million for building renovations, $5.5 million in building equipment and $2.7 million in transportation equipment.
Among the plant improvements are the addition of a controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) system. That phase of the project is expected to be completed during the summer of 2018.
Other upgrades to the plant, including those affecting the scalding system, are expected to be completed before the end of 2018.
According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, Farbest Foods, which also has its headquarters in Huntingburg, slaughtered 559 million pounds of live turkeys in 2016. It has two slaughter plants, two processing plants and two feed mills.
