HALIFAX COUNTY, N.C. — The cotton fields are the latest entry in Halifax County's bid to bring in new jobs. Officials hope old farmland will be turned into ready-to-move industrial sites.

Some 350 acres south of Roanoke Rapids will come with the amenities that land package deals often take months to resolve. The lots would be ready for occupancy.

"We can subdivide this property. Twenty-five or 150 acres doesn't make any difference, but all utilities, everything has been done before the client comes here," said Ron Baker, director of economic development in Halifax County.

Halifax County is prepared to install water and sewer lines, electricity, service road connections, even throw in the land. Baker said while the county's investment is enormous, so is the payoff of landing a new industry.

"You have to keep in mind the ad valorum taxes they are going to pay, the jobs they are going to create, also the families that will move here -- it's all part of the economic development aspect," he said.

Another big draw to in landing economic development on the farmland is Interstate 95 is less than a mile away. Halifax County is concentrating on new industrial development just south of Roanoke Rapids near I-95.