QUITMAN — An $18 million business deal has hatched in Brooks County.

Gov. Nathan Deal announced Thursday Aviagen will invest $18 million in a 65,000 square-foot facility and create 100 jobs at a new parent stock hatchery, according to a state press release.

The Quitman facility will be Aviagen’s eighth commercial breeding stock hatchery in the U.S. and the second in Georgia.

Aviagen was established in 1923 and is one of the world’s leading poultry breeding companies, developing pedigree lines for the production of commercial broiler chickens for the brand names Arbor Acres, Indian River and Ross, according to a press release. 

The company is based in Huntsville, Ala., with a number of wholly owned operations across the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., and joint ventures in Asia.

Aviagen employs more than 3,900 people and has a distribution network serving customers in more than 100 countries.

The Brooks County Development Authority helped bring the project to the county.

“We have planned conscientiously over the past decade to position ourselves as a strong community in which to invest, specifically in agricultural based projects,” said Walter Holwell, Brooks County Development Authority chairman. “We see this as an opportunity to bring together our rich farming heritage with our community’s future, providing jobs for forthcoming generations. In many ways, the impact this project will have in our community is immeasurable, and we are thankful to our outstanding leadership for recognizing its value.”

Quitman City Council is excited to have the project coming to the area, Mayor James Brown said.

“We’re excited about these new jobs coming in because it will impact the city a lot,” Brown said. “One-hundred jobs is a lot, even for Valdosta. We are ecstatic about it. They are supposed to be up and running by 2018.”

In partnership with the development authority, the Georgia Department of Economic Development Assistant Director of Existing Industry and Regional Recruitment Michelle Shaw, Georgia Poultry Foundation and the Georgia Department of Labor and Electric Cities of Georgia helped bring Aviagen to South Georgia, according to the release.

“Georgia’s food processing industry is one of our largest industry clusters, and contributes greatly to the state’s economy,” Commissioner Pat Wilson said in a statement. “It is important to us that suppliers to the food processing industry such as Aviagen have the resources and accessibility they need to thrive and remain competitive. Congratulations to our economic development partners in Brooks County.”

Avian President Kevin McDaniel said the company looks forward to becoming a part of the Brooks County community and it is an advantageous location for the company.

“Quitman’s strategic location gives us more flexibility to supply our domestic customers with quality breeding stock,” he said.

Brown is hopeful this will bring more businesses to the area. 

“We can’t wait. We welcome you here and we thank God for them picking this town and hopefully more will come,” Brown said.

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1256.