Work could start this month on a new turkey processing plant in southwestern Indiana a company expects to open with about 350 workers.

Knox County Development Corp. director Gary Gentry said the agency is scheduled to close next week on a deal for Farbest Foods to build the $70 million plant in a Vincennes industrial park.

Gentry said Huntingburg-based Farbest is moving ahead with the project after the company said in April that it needed to cut nearly $20 million in construction costs. He said Farbest reduced the plant's size by about 10 percent and is delaying some equipment purchases until it adds a second shift.

Farbest announced plans for the plant in December, saying it was expected to open in 2014 and eventually have perhaps 700 workers.

Farbest already employs about 850 in Huntingburg and Dubois. Ted Seger, president of the family-owned company, said Farbest's existing facilities are at nearly full utilization following the launch of a second shift in 2007.

Farbest supplies more than a million pounds of raw, fresh and frozen turkey products per day to food processors.The company oversees the production of more than 10 million turkeys per year through 170 contract growers in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. It has customers in more than 20 countries..

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. in December offered Farbest up to $2.8 million in tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based on the company's job-creation plans. Knox County, where Vincennes is located, has approved additional tax abatement.