Pinckard, Alabama is situated in the very heart of the agricultural section of the state. Located in between Ozark and Dothan off of 231 South. Some of the old timer’s from the towns past and the present, consider this area to be “God’s Country”, because of the dedication and belief of the farmer’s way of life: “Work hard, have faith and Ye shall be rewarded in great measures”. Built on Christian principles, the families of Pinckard has seen history repeat it self recently.

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Although Pinckard, Alabama has not changed very much since the closing of the railroad depot that once brought life to this area, it is now seeing another part of what will be history in the next century just as the railroad helped put this town on the map some 111 years ago.

A recent media advisory emailed to DothanAlabamaMall.com by Michael Martin live operations manager for the new location of the Pilgrims Pride grain receiving facility follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MEDIA ADVISORY

PILGRIM’S PRIDE TO HOLD GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR NEW GRAIN RECEIVING FACILITY IN PINCKARD, AL

Friday, July 25 at 10 a.m.
1042 Forest Drive, Midland City, AL 36350

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ENTERPRISE, Alabama – July 23, 2008 – Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NYSE:PPC) will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, July 25 to announce construction of a new grain receiving facility in Pinckard. The new facility, which is expected to be completed in 2009, will consist of eight slip-form concrete grain silos with the capacity to hold 700,000 bushels of corn and 2,175 tons of soybean meal. A new rail line will be built off the main CSX line to allow 90 unit cars of corn and 20 unit cars of soybean meal to be unloaded at one time. Pilgrim’s Pride will be able to unload a complete 90-car corn train in 15 hours at
the new facility, which will be capable of receiving grain in rail cars or trucks. The facility will be used to store grain for delivery to the Pilgrim’s Pride feed manufacturing facility in Enterprise, and will allow the company to load grain trucks at the rate of 150 tons per hour.

“With the recent increase in the price of feed ingredients, it’s important for us to do everything possible to reduce cost,” said Michael Martin, live operations manager for Pilgrim’s Pride in Enterprise, Alabama. “This new grain receiving facility will give us an advantage on grain by reducing our rail expense, which will allow us to be more competitive in this region.”

Fred McNab, Mayor of Pinckard, commented, “We are very pleased to see Pilgrim’s Pride investing in our community with the construction of this new facility. This type of new economic development is certainly good news for our local economy. We especially appreciate the company’s cooperation in agreeing to change truck routes to eliminate truck traffic within the town limits.”

When complete, the new facility will add two employees to the existing workforce of approximately 800 at the Pilgrim’s Pride Enterprise complex.

About Pilgrim’s Pride

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation is the largest chicken company in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest in Mexico. Pilgrim’s Pride employs approximately 53,500 people and operates 36 chicken processing plants and 12 prepared-foods facilities. Pilgrim’s Pride products are sold to foodservice, retail and frozen entree customers. The Company’s
primary distribution is through retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and in the Northern and Central regions of Mexico.

Ray Atkinson
Director of Corporate Communications
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation

Mr. McNab invited DothanAlabamaMall.com to be a part of the ground breaking ceremony of this huge agricultural manufacturing plant. The Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce was there to hold their ceremony for one of their newest members in the hot summer heat open field which use to be agricultural land. Mounds of dirt are being unearthed and moved from one end of the area to the other, paving the way for a facility that will not bring many jobs to the area, but will bring people from Enterprise to work in this small town and hopefully invest in some of the available housing, retail and restaurant business up and down the 231 throughfare.

This was a surprise to see actually, but it is not a surprise that it is happening to Pinckard, AL given the fact that Pilgrims Pride is using the railroad as it’s reason for moving to the area. It is also most likely the reason the previous owner sold the land to Pilgrims Pride. Because it was for all the same reasons that this rural area was built upon; hard work, faith…… and the railroad.