New Cobb production complex in US

A $14 mln investment by Cobb in a new production facility, including hatchery and quality assurance complex, is now starting to take shape at Lafayette in Macon County, Tennessee, US.

Site preparation work has begun signaling the start of the construction phase, which is scheduled for completion in April 2011. The new hatchery/QA facility will incorporate all the up-to-date technology and be supplied by a network of 27 breeder farms currently under various stages of negotiation and construction with local farmers.

Cobb researched several rural locations in the US before settling on North Central Tennessee as the preferred area, key several criteria such as isolation from other poultry, good accessibility to a major airport, available workforce and a community based in agriculture for the new project.

Cobb has opened an office there and moved the new complex manager, Randy Yates to the region, with Keith Harper appointed hatchery manager. Yates is responsible for overseeing the construction and management of the hatchery facility, and getting the 27 new, 2-house farms built by local farmers over the next three years.