President and CEO of Pilgrim's Pride, Clint Rivers, said that the decision to convert the El Dorado facility to a supply plant was made in response to serious challenges facing the company, as well as the poultry processing industry as a whole.

"While the decision to close or consolidate locations is always difficult, we believe the actions are absolutely necessary for our business and our company," said Rivers.

The 600 workers that will be laid off - mostly hourly workers in chicken processing - will be laid off by mid-September. Contract growers and employees in live operations will not be affected.