Petit Jean Poultry Inc. says 385 workers will be idled when it closes its chicken deboning plant at Arkadelphia, effective 1 April, reports Today's THV.

The facility ended a 20-year deboning contract it had with Tyson Foods since 1991. Tyson began deboning their own birds in January. Plant manager, Ronnie Farham, said efforts to find another company to contract with were unsuccessful.

The plant has a total pay-roll of more than $3.5 million annually.

Mr Farham said employment at the plant in the Clark County Commerce Park at Gum Springs, south-east of Arkadelphia, had dropped over the years. He said that, at one time, the plant employed more than 700 people, but that number was reduced by automation. Some people drive from as far away as Camden to work at the plant.