SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Birdsong Peanuts in Suffolk is expanding.

The company which has been a cornerstone in the Commonwealth’s peanut industry for more than 100 years is set to invest $25.1 million into its peanut shelling facility in Suffolk. The company’s plan is to “refurbish and automate” its production lines at the Suffolk facility.

Gov. Youngkin made the announcement Tuesday stating that the expansion “reinforces Suffolk’s reputation as the ‘peanut capital of the world.’”

The company was founded in 1914 by T.H. Birdsong in Courtland and later relocated to Suffolk in 1939. That facility, which was so crucial to the early success of Planters Peanuts, remains in operation today and has since been joined by dozens of other Birdsong peanut buying, shelling, shipping, and cold storage facilities across 11 states.

Youngkin approved a performance-based grant of $250,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, an incentive that encourages continued capital investment by existing Virginia companies, as well as a $250,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) Fund to assist Suffolk with the project.