Pilgrim's Pride closing El Dorado site

BY STACEY ROBERTS Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 and published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette; Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. will close three of its remaining 32 chicken plants, including an El Dorado plant that has been hit by job cuts twice in the past year. The three plants, including facilities in Douglas, Ga., and Farmerville, La., employ about 3,000 people. That is about 7 percent of Pilgrim's Pride's remaining national work force. A total of 430 independent contract growers will be affected by the closings, the company said in a news release Friday.