PENDLETON — An Illinois-based agriculture company will move its operations to southern Madison County with five to 10 employees at the new location.

Nutrition 101, which develops and maintains animal feed markets for liquid by-products generated by food companies, will build a new 12,000-square-foot facility on 102 acres of land just off Indiana 67 and Madison County Road 900 South, according to a press release from Anderson/Madison County Corp. for Economic Development.

“Proximity to interstates and the nature of the agricultural industry within Madison County and the surrounding area are very attractive to Nutrition 101,” said company representative Cory Peter in the release.

Peter did not return a phone call seeking additional comment Tuesday.

CED Executive Director Rob Sparks said he had been working with Nutrition 101 since October or November and Madison County was selected as the site for the company’s new headquarters in January.

“Just our location was the best part they had going for them,” Sparks said. “I know they looked around the central Indiana area in several locations.”

Sparks said the county doesn’t have any other businesses that do what Nutrition 101 does.

“Obviously any investment into the community is great,” he said. “It’s another diversified business, helping us to keep the ups and downs of the economy from getting too severe by having a lot of diverse businesses.”

Nutrition 101 was formed in 1984 and has offices in Quincy, Ill., and Chicago. Originally, the company manufactured feed and nutritional products for livestock, but it changed its focus in the early 1990s to developing markets for liquid by-products generated by food companies.