Contractors have been busy this week in Douglas as several local entrepreneurs break ground at Peanut Partners, LLC, a new peanut buying point located on the Sinkhole Road just inside the city limits.
The facility will buy peanuts for members at Tifton Quality Peanuts, LLC as well as for outside farmers.
Peanuts will be received, weighed, cleaned, dried, inspected, graded and stored at the buying point, which will feature a 10,000 ton storage facility.
Clarkie Leverette, Phil Murray and Lyle Gaskins expect to have 25 to 30 employees at the new facility. Most of those will be seasonal, but some will be year-round, full-time positions.
The investment will include the purchase of 100 semi-trailers and 50 28’ wagons.
Acquisition of the Sinkhole Road property, a 115 acre site, was made in early 2014 from the Douglas-Coffee County Economic Development Authority (EDA).
Georgia is the number one producer of peanuts in the United States. Georgia peanut farmers provide more than 45 percent of the U.S. peanut crop each year.
Contracts for peanut farmers are available. For more information, contact Clarkie Leverette at (912) 393-5345, Phil Murray at (912) 327-0964 or Lyle Gaskins at (912) 327-0293.
The facility is expected to open in August of this year.
-Submitted copy