RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, US — Perdue AgriBusiness and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on March 24 that it would invest $59.1 million to expand operations in the City of Chesapeake.

The agriculture and service company plans to modernize its facilities and increase production of high protein soybean meal, soybean oil and hulls. It also wants to expand soybean crushing capability to include other high-oil content products.

The Virginia Governor’s office said it competed with Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania for the project.

“We purchase grain from more than 700 farmers in Virginia annually, giving them a strong local market for their crops,” said Scott Fredericksen, president of Perdue AgriBusiness. “Renovating and expanding our Chesapeake operations will allow us to increase local origination and improve our processing capabilities, as well as enhance logistical efficiencies across our supply chain to continue meeting customer demand. As a proud employer in the state, we look forward to many more years of success and growth at our operations in Chesapeake.”

Perdue purchases 80% of Virginia’s soybeans and exports 72 million tonnes of soybeans per year through The Port of Virginia. The Chesapeake facility supplies crude degummed soybean oil to Perdue’s Salisbury, Maryland, US, oil refinery for further processing and sales to the food industry. Perdue also supplies the biodiesel industry globally.

Perdue AgriBusiness operates 75 elevator locations with more than 75 million bushels of storage, deep-water port, transload facilities, oilseed crushing operations, edible oil refinery and protein blend mills.

Youngkin approved a $500,000 performance-based grant as well as a $450,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund to assist the City of Chesapeake with the project.

“Perdue AgriBusiness is a valued employer in Chesapeake and a major contributor to Virginia farmers’ livelihoods, and we look forward to its continued growth trajectory with the modernization and expansion of this facility,” Youngkin said.

The company is also eligible to apply for the Railroad Industrial Access Program through the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, subject to approval by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Perdue AgriBusiness is an independent operating company of Perdue Farms Inc. Perdue Farms has more than 2,800 employees in Virginia.