A southwest Indiana turkey company plans to open a plant in Vincennes that is expected to create up to 600 jobs over the next few years.

Huntingburg-based Farbest Foods Inc., one of the nation's largest turkey companies, said it will invest $69 million to build a 220,000-square-foot processing plant on 100 acres in Vincennes.

Farbest already employs about 850 in Huntingburg and Dubois. It has begun hiring engineering, administrative and maintenance employees for the new Vincennes plant and plans to begin hiring manufacturing workers in 2013. The plant will start production with 360 employees. Farbest anticipates adding a second shift that would boost the work force to 600.

"Farbest's decision to locate another facility in Indiana reaffirms the confidence that flourishing companies have in our prosperous business climate," Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement. He noted that Indiana's central location allows businesses to reach 80 percent of the nation's population within a day's drive.

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. 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.