Bell & Evans, a US poultry processing company is investing over $260 million towards a new poultry harvesting facility in Pennsylvania at Fredericksburg in Bethel Township, Lebanon County.

The new chicken harvesting facility, which is scheduled to begin operations in early 2020, is expected to create about 1,800 full-time jobs in Lebanon County.

It will be equipped with four processing lines – each having a capability of processing 600,000 chickens a week. At its full capacity, the 560,000sqft Bell & Evans poultry harvesting facility will process 2.6 million chickens a week.

The new poultry plant plant will essentially support Bell & Evans’ retail and food service segments and will also play its part in helping the poultry processing company to broaden its organic variety of chicken products.

Bell & Evans will be using the new capacity to meet the surging demand for its chicken products, which will be processed at the company’s nearby located poultry processing facility in Bethel Township.

Commenting on the new Bell & Evans poultry harvesting facility, Scott Sechler – owner of Bell & Evans, said: “We’re excited about our growth and its positive impact for the local communities.

“This expansion is supporting local farmers in fifteen surrounding counties by expanding our grow out and breeder operations.

“Additionally, coupled with our 100% conversion to a higher-welfare chicken breed, this expansion ensures Bell & Evans will maintain our position as industry leader and producer of the highest quality chicken in the U.S.  The Governor’s Action Team is a key partner in supporting these initiatives, as well as overall agriculture in Central Pennsylvania.”

The poultry processing company is looking to source chickens for its new chicken harvesting plant from less than an hour radius of the facility with additional production to come from Pennsylvania farms.

Russell Redding – Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary, commenting on the new Bell & Evans poultry harvesting facility, said: “We appreciate the investments Bell & Evans is making in Pennsylvania, as well as Governor Wolf’s commitment to growing our agriculture industry.

“Bell & Evans has established themselves as a leader in the poultry industry, and we’re fortunate to have them right here in our backyard. The company’s expansion here means more opportunities for our producers – both those who are already raising chickens and those who are looking for ways to diversify their operations to take advantage of growing markets.”

Bell & Evans has been given a funding proposal from the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for a Pennsylvania First grant worth $2 million along with $2,138,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits to be distributed after the new jobs are created and also $421,650 in funding for training of the new employees under the WEDnet PA program.

Tom Wolf – Pennsylvania Governor, commenting on the new Bell & Evans chicken harvesting facility, said: “This expansion by one of our long-standing Pennsylvania businesses, Bell & Evans, is a truly transformational project. Not only will it provide more than 1,000 new, full-time jobs, but it will also support operations of more than 300 Pennsylvania farms, bringing a significant boost to our agriculture sector.”

  Bell & Evans, Bethel Township, Chicken harvesting facility, Food processing news, Fredericksburg, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, Poultry harvesting facility, Poultry industry news, Poultry processing plant, Russell Redding, Scott Sechler, Tom Wolf, USA