Center is home to a very large Tyson poultry processing plant which employes nearly 1,600 people. Tyson recently completed a $30 million expansion whereby they added two additional lines to increase production.
Supplementing the plant are two local hatcheries, one operated by Tyson and the other by Pilgrim's Pride. A Pilgrim's Pride poultry feed mill is operated in Shelby County.
Rounding out the integrated poultry industry are over 200 local contract growers.
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The City feels that the next step is to recruit a food processor to take advantage of the poultry production chain to realize an operational effeciency. Other advantages enjoyed by Center is the abundance of water, a low cost business environment, and a local workforce specializing in this type of work as evidenced by the location quotients.
Further, the City has excess water capacity to support a food processing concern.
Location Quotient Data
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics - Shelby County
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
2012 - 8.8
2013 - 9.69
2014 - 10.29
2015 - 10.45