Montana Tractors is moving its operations from Arkansas to Tarboro.

Tony Pearce of Montana and Oppie Jordan of Carolinas Gateway Partnership made the announcement at the Tarboro Town Council meeting Monday night.

“We plan to move all production, service, part and logistical assets to Tarboro no later than July 30,” stated Ted Wade, vice chairman and co-owner, in a news release.

Wade said Montana, which closed on the acquisition of Farmtrac North America’s assets Dec. 1, has been conducting “an extensive analysis on the capacity of the assets we purchased.

“As a result we have identified a tremendous amount of efficiencies we can realize through a consolidation of operations in Springdale, Ark., to our newly acquired facilities in Tarboro.”

The move will mean new jobs in Tarboro, eventually.

Some employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate.

Pearce, director of operations and a former Farmtrac employee, said the company on Main Street currently had 16 to 18 full-time and contract employees and planned to hire more this month.

“After that,” he said, “we’ll let the demand determine how many more people we add.”

The company will assemble tractors and continue producing front-end loaders and backhoes.

The timeline for moving essential, administrative staff, accounting personnel and sales support from Springdale “is situational dependent at this point,” Wade said.

Carolinas Gateway Partnership, the economic development agency for Tarboro, Rocky Mount, Nashville, Edgecombe and Nash counties, has applied for a $485,000 Building and Reuse Grant from the state Carolina Rural Economic Development Center.