A new company is coming to Pittsylvania County and bringing some new job opportunities.

Hon. Bettina Ring, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, announced that Micro Blenders, Inc., a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based QLF, Inc., will invest over $3.5 million to establish a new additive feed manufacturing operation in Pittsylvania County.

"I am proud to support the investment of QLF, Inc, to establish a manufacturing operation in Pittsylvania County, the largest county in the Commonwealth. Their expansion will bring new jobs to the region and strengthen the manufacturing and agricultural sectors that are vital to our rural economies," she said.

Micro Blenders, Inc. makes cattle feed

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New jobs are coming to Pittsylvania County.

QLF, Inc. in Pennsylvania is opening a subsidiary company called Micro Blenders, Inc. in Gretna.

QLF, Inc. makes cattle feed.

The company will initially spend $3.5 million to open, creating 15 new jobs.

Eventually, though, the company plans to invest $10 million in the Gretna facility and create 25 to 30 jobs.

 On Thursday at the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex, the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Honorable Bettina Ring announced that Micro Blenders, Inc., a family owned company providing premixes of animal feeds, will be coming to Gretna and operating in the former Techma building. Micro Blenders, Inc is a subsidiary of the New Holland, Pennsylvania, based company QLF.

CHATHAM – An additive feed manufacturer is coming to the long-vacant Techma building in Gretna.

Micro Blenders, Inc. will invest more than $3.5 million and bring 15 jobs to the northern Pittsylvania County town over the next three years, Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry announced Friday morning at the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex in Chatham.

The family-owned operation could have expanded in its home state or built a new facility in North Carolina, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Bettina Ring told attendees.

“But they chose the Commonwealth of Virginia to do their business,” Ring said, pointing to agriculture as the state’s first industry.

Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project.

The Southern Virginia Regional Alliance and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Halifax County hosted Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball, Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) President and CEO Stephen Moret, members of their staff and others for a round table event held late last month.

The round table session, held at Southern Virginia Technology Park, included manufacturing and business representatives as well as Sen. Frank Ruff; Legislative Assistant to Del. James Edmunds Shelia Bradley; and representatives from GO Virginia, Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation (MBC), ChemQuest Technology Institute (CTI), Southern Virginia Higher Education Center and the Halifax IDA.

The discussion focused on the vision for rural economic development. Topics addressed included broadband technology, inclusive of MBC’s work in the region; CTI’s research for companies worldwide; the Henrietta Lacks Life Science Center plans for the region; and relevant pending legislation.

The Southern Virginia Mega Site at Berry Hill has been certified by the Commonwealth of Virginia as infrastructure ready, announced Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball and Stephen Moret, President and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP). Ball and Moret joined Southern Virginia economic developers and community leaders Aug. 30-31 to share this significant update and to participate in tours regarding workforce development and revitalization efforts.

“We are proud to have all of the current pad in compliance with shovel-ready standards and the recognition that the entire mega site is infrastructure ready,” said Matthew Rowe, Director of Economic Development for Pittsylvania County.

A longstanding corporate citizen of Chatham, Eastern Panel Manufacturing Inc. is investing $1 million to expand its manufacturing operations. The custom plywood manufacturer recently moved from its former 30,000-square-foot site to a 55,000-square-foot facility in the Chatham Industrial Park.

Matt Rowe, Pittsylvania County’s director of economic development, knew Eastern Panel was in growth mode. He contacted the company’s president, Keith Van Asch, as soon as he learned it was looking for a new facility.  

“I knew the company was testing the water to see how the market was building product-wise. They were looking at numerous options,” Rowe says. “I wanted to show him what kind of building product we had. He liked what we put together.”

Governor Ralph Northam made a special announcement on the southside. A pharmaceutical company is creating dozens of new jobs in the area. "Panaceutics and Pittsylvania County that's got a good ring to it," said Governor Ralph Northam.

A $5.8 million investment, and 70 new jobs are coming to the Danville/Pittsylvania County area thanks to a company called Panaceutics. Panaceutics will operate its research and manufacturing facility in the Cane Creek Industrial Park.

"We make a product to personalize nutrition and medicine, where we take the active ingredients and then formulate it based on genetics, on your lab tests, on you age, sex, weight, factors like that," says Panaceutics co-founder Edison Hudson.

In short, these little pouches have vitamins and minerals, as well as any specific medications you may need, all in one.

The Dan River Region’s precision machining programs not only brought Virginia’s top elected official to Danville on Tuesday, it attracted another state’s governor as well.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson toured the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and other facilities to provide an example to Hutchinson and his delegation of community investment in workforce training.

“After seeing it, I’m glad that I came,” Hutchinson told the Danville Register & Bee following a tour of the Institute and its Gene Haas Center for Integrated Machining. “It’s an amazing investment in the community and its future.”

Good news for Pittsylvania County: dozens of new jobs are coming to town.

Amthor International, which is a tanker truck manufacturer, has been in Gretna since 1992. Now, they will be expanding, adding 90 new jobs over the next five years, and much more.

"Amthor International, the largest tanker truck manufacturer in North America, is going to invest $7.1 million to expand its operations in Gretna, Virginia," announced Virginia's Secretary of Commerce and Trade, Todd Haymore.