Entrepreneurs agree to buy Hermitage Farm

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville entrepreneurs Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson have reached a deal to purchase historic Hermitage Farm, which has produced one Kentucky Derby winner and hundreds of stakes winners.

Wilson said April 28 that he and his wife have no plans to go into the Thoroughbred breeding business, but want to preserve the nearly 700-acre farm known for its rolling pastures and stately pin oak trees. Wilson did not disclose the sale price.

Under the deal, expected to close in weeks, current owner Carl Pollard will continue to live on the farm and operate his Thoroughbred breeding business. Wilson and Brown plan to meet with architects and horse industry leaders to chart long-term plans for the farm.

Wilson and Brown previously acquired 180 acres of the farm in 2003 and leased it back to Pollard.

Governor kicks off ConAgra expansion to create 190 jobs

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland joined ConAgra Foods representatives and local officials to kick off the company’s expansion at a ground-breaking ceremony at its Troy facility. The expansion is creating 190 jobs in Ohio.

ConAgra is expanding its current facility in Troy to accommodate the second phase of the Slim Jim product line addition at this facility. This phase of the Slim Jim project is a $59 million investment by the company that will include renovations and the addition of more product lines with new machinery and equipment.
The state of Ohio provided an incentives package to assist the expansion. The company committed to creating 50 new jobs last year in its first project in Troy, and to date ConAgra Foods has created more than 110 jobs. The company employs 371 people and will add 190 in Troy through the addition of the Slim Jim product.

University of Illinois researcher launches swine nutrition site

URBANA, Ill. — University of Illinois researcher Hans H. Stein launched a new website to make his swine nutrition research more accessible and more applicable for producers and feed companies.
The site at http://nutrition.ansci.illinois.edu features a number of information resources and tools to help producers formulate diets, including spreadsheets detailing energy and nutrient digestibility for a variety of feed ingredients and calculators to help formulate cost-efficient diets.

Information resources include a monthly newsletter, video and audio podcasts and a complete listing of Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory publications. Full text of many of the publications is available free of charge.