Duplin getting four-county peanut operation
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on February 23, 2005 2:09 PM
WARSAW -- A receiving station for peanuts is coming to the West Park Industrial Park in Duplin county.
A group of peanut growers in Duplin, Sampson, Wayne and Lenoir counties have formed Four County Peanut Services and are buying 49 acres at the park to build the receiving station, which will employ about six people.
The Duplin County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing Monday to listen to comments about the county's proposal sale of the land to the company for $4,000 an acre.
Commissioners voted to sell the land, subject to securing a release from U.S. Cold Storage. U.S. Cold Storage had first rights on the land adjacent to the property.
Woody Brinson, the director of the Duplin Economic Development Commission, said a number of local people spoke favorably about the venture. He said U.S. Cold Storage has given its verbal release of buying rights but the county has received nothing in writing.
Brinson said Four County will invest $2 million in the receiving station. Peanuts gathered at the station will be shipped to Georgia for processing. The company is on a tight construction schedule, said Brinson. The receiving station needs to be in operaion by mid-September, when the peanuts are normally harvested.