Tyson Foods will invest $300 million to construct a 325,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Cane Creek Centre, an industrial park jointly owned by the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County in Virginia. The new facility will be used primarily for the production of fully cooked Tyson products like Any’tizer Snacks and Chicken Nuggets. The company has committed to purchasing 60 million pounds of Virginia-grown chicken over the next three years. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project, which will create 376 new jobs.
Tyson has had a footprint in Virginia for more than 50 years and employs more than 2,000 people across the state in its hatchery, grain, and processing operations in Glen Allen area in Henrico County and in Temperanceville on the Eastern Shore.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Development Authority, the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance, and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission to secure the project for the Commonwealth.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam approved a $3.048 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and a $3 million performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, an incentive that encourages continued capital investment by existing Virginia companies, to assist Danville-Pittsylvania County with the project. The Governor also approved a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund that supports projects sourcing Virginia-grown products.
The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved $1.5 million from the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund for the project. Tyson is eligible to receive state benefits from the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for new, full-time jobs created, as well as benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
Support for Tyson Foods’ job creation will be provided through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a workforce initiative created by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System and other higher education partners. Funding for the program comes from the Northam administration and the Virginia General Assembly. Launched in 2019, the program accelerates new facility start-ups through the direct delivery of recruitment and training services that are fully customized to each company. All program services are provided at no cost to qualified new and expanding companies as an incentive for job creation.
