Tyson Still Rules NWA Chicken Coop

Tyson Foods Inc.’s pending acquisition of IBP Inc. will hardly affect the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s poultry listing. In the pecking order among Northwest Arkansas poultry companies, Tyson continues to rule with almost twice the number of employees as its nearest competitor.

The world’s leading producer and marketer of chicken and poultry products, Tyson is in its third month of battling to purchase IBP, the world’s leading producer of fresh meat. Tyson employs more than 68,000 in 17 states and Mexico, including about 7,500 in Northwest Arkansas. Tyson, with headquarters in Springdale, has area plants in Fayetteville, Johnson, Rogers, Bentonville and Lincoln. About 1,200 of the company’s Northwest Arkansas employees work at the headquarters.

Tyson also has live swine and corn and flour tortilla products.

John Tyson took over as president and CEO in April after Wayne Britt retired. Tyson is also chairman.

OK Foods Inc. of Fort Smith remained second on our list with 4,500 employees, up 6 percent from 1999.

Simmons Foods Inc. of Siloam Springs recently had layoffs, but the company told the Business Journal that its numbers were the same as last year, with 2,500 employees. The company made Buddy Pilgrim CEO in February 2000 after he served as chief operating officer for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. in Texas.

George’s Inc. of Springdale did not disclose its number of employees, but Poultry Magazine estimates that figure at 2,300 between its Arkansas operations in Springdale, Tontitown and Siloam Springs.

Peterson Farms Inc., which added about 600 workers altogether at its Decatur and Rogers operations, by far had the largest increase in employees at 43 percent. Peterson is also reportedly purchasing Rogers’ Petit Jean Poultry, which last year employed about 575 at its deboning and portioning plant.

Cargill Inc., whose headquarters are in Minnesota, has two Northwest Arkansas operations, in Springdale and Gentry. The turkey processing plants employ about 1,250, up 4 percent from 1,205 in 1999.

Cobb-Vantress Inc. of Siloam Springs, a wholly owned Tyson subsidiary, purchased Avian Farms USA Inc.’s operations in Kentucky and Texas last year. But C-V still employs only about 280 among its three breeding stock facilities in Siloam Springs, Springdale and Fayetteville.