MTC — Moultrie Technical College

MOULTRIE — Technical education officials from Moultrie and Valdosta and management of poultry processor Sanderson Farms signed an agreement Wednesday to begin training workers through Georgia’s renowned Quick Start program.

Moultrie Technical College and Valdosta Technical College will partner with Quick Start and Sanderson Farms to train 1,700 workers and 130 contract growers to handle state-of-the-art technology and apply the most advanced techniques involved in poultry processing.

Billed as Georgia’s premier economic development program, Quick Start will train workers at no cost for eligible new and existing companies and will continue to provide training for Sanderson Farms past the tidal wave of initial employment, a recent press release from the company said. The Quick Start program, administered through the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), has trained more than 515,000 workers for 4,600 expansion and relocation projects since its inception in 1967, the release said.

The processing plant is set to open in Moultrie at the end of August. Hiring for production positions will begin in July, said William Gully, human resources manager for the Moultrie plant.

DTAE Commissioner Mike Vollmer stood before the group and described his initial introduction to the management team of Sanderson Farms in Mississippi.

“What impressed me — what most of you don’t know in this room — is that at lunch Mr. (Joe) Sanderson turned to me and said, ‘I want to locate in Georgia, and by the way, I want to pay school taxes.’ I will never forget that, because we deal with a lot industries that want to come to Georgia, but they want to come with their set of terms, and their set of terms is usually ‘I don’t want to pay any of those taxes,” Vollmer said.

“This is truly a regional development that not only will help this county but many counties,” he said, adding that Georgia is in a state of transformation into a workforce with skills and education.

Last year was a banner year for Sanderson Farms, now the fifth largest poultry processor in the U.S. The company exceeded $1 billion in sales and had record earnings of $91.4 million in net income, said Robin Robinson, Sanderson’s director of organizational development and corporate communications.

Sanderson Farms’ investment of $100 million in Georgia, with growers’ investments of $85 million, will increase the company’s processing capability by 23 percent, or 1.25 million head per week, Robinson said. That translates to 300 million pounds of poultry products out of the Georgia facility generating $225 million per year in sales.