Farmina Pet Food USA plans to establish its North American headquarters in Reidsville, NC, creating 129 jobs over five years.
Capital investment is expected to total nearly $28.5 million, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced.
“We welcome Farmina Pet Food to North Carolina, and are proud to be the base for its North American operations,” Cooper said. “Their choice will add jobs to Reidsville and our excellent workforce and infrastructure will serve them well as they continue to grow.”
Farmina Pet Food USA LLC is part of family owned and operated Farmina Pet Foods Holding, whose small-animal nutrition business began in Italy in 1965. The global company “uses natural ingredients in manufacturing both wet and dry dog and cat food products containing natural antioxidants and no GMOs,” according to a press release from Cooper’s office. Farmina remains headquartered in Italy and operates manufacturing facilities in Italy, Brazil and Serbia. It currently has a sales and marketing office in New York City. The company’s North Carolina location will include manufacturing, research and development, and warehousing operations.
“As a family-owned and operated business, we believe that Reidsville is the perfect fit for our values of quality and continuous innovation, from the workforce to the production technologies,” said Angelo Russo, CEO and owner of Farmina Holding. “Utilizing ingredients from Europe, Farmina’s North Carolina kitchen will make to order our Natural&Delicious and Vetlife dry nutritional solutions for cats and dogs.
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“A state-of-the-art microbiological and chemical lab will be equipped to carry out the company’s strict quality control procedures, establishing a new benchmark for creating pet nutrition solutions in the U.S. We plan to further invest in the Southeast to develop a network of family-owned regional farms that meet our farm-to-table ingredient quality standards.”
The North Carolina Department of Commerce led the state’s efforts to recruit Farmina, which also considered other U.S. destinations. The company’s new jobs will offer salaries averaging $46,722 per year, creating a $6.15 million annual payroll impact in the region. Farmina’s North Carolina workforce will include positions ranging from machine operators and shipping clerks to veterinarians and chemical technicians.
Farmina’s presence in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee. Over the 12-year term of the grant, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by more than $857 million. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the 129 new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $1.833 million over 12 years.
