Prestage picks Wright County for $240M pork plant
Prestage Farms will build a $240 million pork processing plant in Wright County, the company announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes after plans to build the pork plant in Mason City fell through earlier this year. With a split vote, the Mason City Council failed to approve an agreement with Clinton, N.C.-based Prestage.
In Wright County, the pork plant will create more than 900 new full-time jobs, with the lowest-paid workers beginning at more than $37,000 per year plus full benefits, according to the company news release. Average wages at the plant are expected to be more than $47,000.
The company said the plant will bring a $43 million boost to overall income in Wright County, as well as economic benefits to surrounding counties.
“We are investing in Iowa and specifically Wright County because we believe this plant is good for Iowa, good for agriculture and a good step forward for our family-owned and -run business,” said Ron Prestage, division president, in the news release. “Iowa is the nation’s leading pork-producing state and currently produces more pigs than it can process. This plant will keep the value from processing pigs in this state.”
Construction is set to begin in the fall of 2016, pending finalization of county and state approvals, with completion and first shift operations beginning in mid-2018.
“We are excited to have Prestage Foods of Iowa construct their first pork processing plant in Wright County,” said county Economic Development Director Bryce Davis in the news release. “Agriculture is important to this county and to our state, and we welcome the more than 900 new jobs and $240 million investment in this area."
Davis said numerous businesses, community organizations and county government leaders support the Prestage plant being built in Wright County.
Prestage: Chances 'high' Iowa will get $240M plant
Prestage Farms has been raising pigs in Iowa for more than a decade and is located in 30 Iowa counties, according to the news release. The company plans to buy 40 percent of the hogs for the new plant from independent farmers.
Shortly after Prestage's plans in Mason City fell through, company leaders said they believed racism influenced the Mason City Council's decision to reject the pork plant being built.
Council member Janet Solberg, who voted in favor of the project, agreed, telling The Des Moines Register in May that many locals feared a potential influx of immigrant workers moving into town.
"Racism was a huge factor. There is no doubt in my mind," she said. "Most of my phone calls and emails were, 'we don’t want those people in our community.' It played a very large factor in all of this, sad to say."
The Wright County Board of Supervisors discussed the Prestage project in a Tuesday morning meeting. The board appointed Supervisor Karl Helgevold as its representative while working with Prestage, according to a county news release.
“The Prestage project will be a tremendous boost for the economy in Wright County and the surrounding areas,” Helgevold said in the statement. “Our economic development department has been working with local communities to enhance their housing resources and the timing for this project will fit well with those plans that are already moving forward.”
When the Prestage pork plant had been planned for Mason City, the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board had agreed to provide the project nearly $11.5 million in tax incentives, plus $3.3 million in job-training assistance.
Tina Hoffman, spokeswoman for the IEDA, said Tuesday that those incentives will not be transferred to the project now that it is in Wright County. Prestage and local government must together submit a new application for incentives, she said.
These economic incentives from the state require local governments to provide matching funds, Hoffman said. In Mason City, the local match for the Prestage plant was rejected by the City Council's vote, which in turn halted the project.
