A large, but lesser-known business of poultry giant Perdue is moving its headquarters and 200 jobs to a Sussex County site.
Perdue AgriBusiness, has closed on the purchase of property in Delmar, Del., to build new corporate offices to support continued growth. Delmar, as its name indicates is on the border of the two states.
The new office building will replace a 45-year-old facility at the Perdue AgriBusiness complex on Zion Church Road in Salisbury. No timetable for construction was announced.
Perdue has signed an agreement with architects George, Miles and Buhr LLC to design the new facility, which will be located on a 17-acre tract on Route 13 north in Delmar. The Delmar location is centrally located to the Perdue AgriBusiness Delmarva operations and will provide additional space and flexibility not available at the current location, a Perdue release stated.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell had announced in January that the agribusiness unit would relocate to Delaware.
“Perdue AgriBusiness is an increasingly diversified business, but we are outgrowing our office facility. Delmar is centrally located to our Delmarva operations and will minimize the impact on the associates currently working in our Salisbury office,” said Dick Willey, president of Perdue AgriBusiness. “We look forward to getting this project underway and will have an associate team working with the architect firm for design input. The State of Delaware has always been a true business partner to Perdue, and we are excited to support the local economy.”
In 2012, Perdue had announced it would move the office and 150 jobs to a site in Seaford but later changed its plans.
About 200 current and future executive and support positions will be housed at the new Delmar location. All other Perdue AgriBusiness operations will continue in their current locations, including the soy processing, edible oil refining and grain operations at the Zion Church Road location. The move does not affect Perdue’s main corporate headquarters in Salisbury.
“With an annual impact estimated at $8 billion a year, Delaware’s agricultural community is one of the cornerstones of our state’s economy,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. “We know our future prosperity depends on a strong commitment to this industry. Perdue’s expansion is an important marker of the continued and growing strength of Delaware agriculture,, particularly in our vital poultry sector. I am grateful to the company’s leadership for their robust partnership with us.”
“On behalf of my colleagues and I, we consider it a great honor and privilege to welcome the Perdue AgriBusiness corporate offices to the Town of Delmar, Delaware. An economic development of this magnitude coming to our Town will have such a positive impact to our state, county, and local economy, we are very excited to be a part of this opportunity. I am confident that this business endeavor will be a great asset for the community of Delmar,” said Delmar Mayor Michael T. Houlihan.
“Sussex County welcomes Perdue AgriBusiness with open arms and looks forward to the company’s increasing presence here in Delaware,” said Sussex County Council President Michael H. Vincent. “As the birthplace of the modern broiler industry and the leading poultry producing county in the nation, it’s only natural that Perdue AgriBusiness has made the choice to grow its business on Sussex County soil. We believe Perdue AgriBusiness’ decision is a testament to the business friendly environment in Delaware, and it’s a meaningful step toward growing and diversifying Sussex County’s economy.”
Sussex is the nation’s largest poultry producing county.
Perdue AgriBusiness is a direct exporter of U.S. agricultural commodities through the company’s deepwater port in Chesapeake, Va. Perdue AgriBusiness merchandises grain and oilseeds, processes soybeans, blends feed ingredients, trades a wide variety of agricultural commodities and refines edible oils.
Perdue Agribusiness is an outgrowth of the company’s need to import grain to feed poultry on Delmarva. Perdue has been diversifying in recent years to fast-growing areas such as organic poultry, beef and pork.
Perdue AgriBusiness ventures also work in areas such as bio-energy, organic fertilizers and specialty livestock feeds. Further information is available at www.perdueagribusiness.com.
