A new feed mill expected to bring 45 jobs to Madison County should be ready by next summer.
The Columbia Farms facility is currently under construction on 107 acres east of Comer on Hwy. 72.
“A lot of concrete has got to be poured,” said Madison County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) executive director Marvin White said. “There’s a lot of construction to be done there. And they’ve just got it out of the ground, really.”
The plant is expected to produce 8,000 tons of poultry feed weekly and generate around $200,000 annually in tax revenue.
The county will furnish water to the plant. Columbia Farms had been talking to the city of Comer as a possible water supplier, but that never came to fruition.
The company then considered supplying their own water before ultimately asking to purchase water from the county.
White explained that there are other properties there that might be available for other industry. If so, water would be needed for that.
“And I agree that that’s probably the best thing to do, to do an industrial well, something like we had at Madico Park for years,” White said.
The Madison County IDA is currently in the process of locating the exact spot to drill a new well.
White added that a water tank there could be another possibility in the future.
