More than 4,000 individuals have applied to work for the 1,100 positions that will eventually be filled at Sanderson Farms facilities in Robeson County, North Carolina, according to a report in The Robesonian. Approximately 300 people have been hired thus far to man the $17 million hatchery in Lumberton and the $115 million processing plant in St. Pauls. Both facilities will be fully operational by the beginning of January.
Bob “Pic” Billingsley, director of development and engineering for the company, said the hatchery is scheduled to be open and operating in three weeks. On November 14, training for employees will begin at the processing plant with “full actual production” beginning the first week of January. Billingsley also said that there will be no new chicken houses across Robeson County to support the new hatchery and processing plant. “Instead, the chicken houses will be near our feed mill in Kinston,” Billingsley said. “You always want to keep your chicken houses as close as possible to the feed mill.”
