New egg facility to bring some jobs back to Dexter

On Friday, Dec. 29, Cal-Maine Foods of Ridgeland, Mississippi, announced the acquisition of a shuttered Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in Dexter. Cal-Maine, the country's largest egg producer, plans to convert it into an egg processing facility by the summer of 2024.

Dexter city administrator David Wyman said the new facility will include a processing plant, feed mill and hatchery.

"It's kind of a similar vein to the poultry production that we had, so I think they're going to be able to take advantage that we have lots of grain available here in our area, and also a really elaborate network of poultry producers," he said.

The Tyson plant, vacant since it closed its doors in mid-October, will not become a blighted area; instead, Wyman said he was looking forward to seeing it become a productive workspace.

However, the egg processing plant will not be able to employ as many workers as the former chicken processing facility could. Tyson Foods laid off nearly 700 workers when it closed the Dexter plant. Cal-Maine Foods will start off employing around 100 people.

"Then, as they bring more production online, they will ramp up and maybe be able to go to 200, and if they get into their phase three, they might be able to go up to about 300," Wyman said.

He said the company hasn't set a timeline for their phased approach, but it will give area farmers and poultry producers a new option to sell their goods to.

Wyman said the city is still working to attract additional businesses to help employ even more people. As a community, there's still work to be done.

"We're very excited," he said, "but still looking to continue our growth."

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