MOULTRIE — Area economic developers are working with National Beef to acquire more land for its recently announced expansion.

Darrell Moore, president of the Colquitt County Economic Development Authority, said a regional joint economic group composed of several counties are negotiating a deal.

“We’re looking at a long-term lease of four to five acres,” said Moore.

The joint economic development authority is comprised of Colquitt, Thomas, Brooks, Grady and Mitchell counties.

“We’re really excited about this development,” said Moore. And he indicated the investment and the number of jobs that were announced by National Beef might be even larger.

“I think they were trying to be conservative,” he said.

National Beef’s announcement Monday was a $30 million investment and the addition of 100 jobs. At the moment, the plant here, located at the former Swift and Company site, employs 300 workers.

The extra space is needed for staging and trailer parking during shipping and receiving, said Moore.

The expansion will include physical additions to the existing plant as well as replacing equipment.

Keith Welty, a spokesman for National Beef, said a team is meeting in the next two weeks to finish details relative to permits.

He said the hiring process will be in the third quarter of 2018 and the expansion project will be completed in the fourth quarter.

Welty said physical plant expansion will mainly be for dry material storage and other investments will be for new processing and packaging equipment.

“We will be supplying product in the same geography that we currently supply which is the Southeastern U.S, North Carolina, South Carolina,Georgia, Florida and Alabama,” Welty added.

As for local plant management Welty said the current team will continue to lead the Moultrie operations.

National Beef is not a kill and package plant as was the old Swift and Company.

Typically, beef are raised in the South Georgia area as feeder cattle and then sold to feedlots in the midwest for finishing. Beef carcasses are then sent to packaging plants to complete the process.

National Beef is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., in the heart of the beef fattening area.