MARCUS, Iowa – A new southwest Iowa beef processing plant, which is slated for construction next year, will harvest 1,500 head per day, employ 750 workers, and have an estimated annual economic impact of $1.1 billion, according to company officials.

“We’ll be the first state-of-the-art new facility built in western Iowa in more than two generations,” said Chad Tentinger, founder and owner of TenCorp, Inc., a cattle industry construction firm with offices in Des Moines and Marcus, Iowa, in a news conference with reporters and state officials.

Tentinger, the project developer of the soon-to-be-built Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Co. plant, said he wants to provide a market for cattle raised by smaller, independent cattle producers.

He said he expects Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Co. plant to process cattle from Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The plant is slated to open in 2023. 

“Cattlemen’s Heritage will fill a critical gap between the conglomerates and the outdated, under-sized lockers and plants that aren’t equipped to meet the needs of consumers, producers, or retailers,” said Tentinger, who’s also a fourth-generation Marcus, Iowa, cattle producer.

“Cattle producers and retailers have recognized for quite some time that as more cattle production has moved north to the Upper Midwest that we need the processing capacity to match it,” he added. “The Cattlemen’s Heritage facility will go a long way to resolving that ongoing challenge, and delivering more quality beef from family farms to consumers.”

The $350 million facility will be situated on the Mills-Pottawattamie County line, south of the Omaha/Council Bluffs area in western Iowa, and fronted by Interstate 29, giving access to infrastructure, and a good labor force.

Ernie Goss, principal investigator at Goss & Associates, who’s also professor of economics and MacAllister Chair at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., recently conducted the economic impact study of the Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef plant.

When it’s constructed and fully operational, Goss said the plant will employ approximately 13.3 times the average Iowa manufacturer’s workers, and pay roughly 12.4 times the average payroll.

“The average salary at the Cattlemen’s Heritage facility will exceed the Iowa average by 5.5 percent, and the Iowa median salary by 30.3 percent,” he said. “From the beginning of construction in 2022 through 2028, the first (six) years of operations, Cattlemen’s Heritage as planned will support an annual average of 3,319 direct and spillover jobs, wages and salaries of $817 million, self-employment income of $414.8 million, with a total impact of $6.4 billion,” he said.

“Furthermore, it is estimated that the plant will support jobs paying an average of $55,285 per worker, and state and local tax collections will total $125 million between 2022 and 2028,” he added. “In terms of rate-of-return for locally-provided infrastructure support, the project will provide $28.54 for every dollar of local public infrastructure support period between 2022 and 2028.”

Tentinger said the facility will serve as a game changer for the surrounding counties by providing more than 3,300 jobs through construction, and have a total impact of $6.4 million (within the surrounding counties).

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said the new facility will provide more market access for Iowa’s cattle producers, as well as new jobs, and the expansion of Iowa’s agriculture.

“Creating more economic value to Iowa agriculture and the state’s livestock industry will help bring the next generation back to the farm,” he said. “This is important for the success and sustainability of the ag community, and our state’s economy.

“That’s especially true when our livestock producers see large disparities between live cattle and boxed beef prices,” he added. “There’s a significant opportunity to expand meat processing capacity around the state. This facility will create additional market access for our producers, new jobs, and economic activity in our rural communities.”

Tentinger said Cattlemen’s Heritage wants to be able to help young farmers get into the cattle business and stay in the industry.

The plant will start by harvesting about 800 head per day for the first several months, and ramp up to 1,500 head per day by the end of the first year. A full workforce will be hired to be on hand when the plant opens.

Marco Floreani, Mills County Economic Development Foundation director, said, “This is huge, agriculture is a bedrock industry for this part of the country, Iowa. So, the economic impact will be significant, over a billion dollars annually.

“We had the double whammy of 2019 floods and then the pandemic, so this is a huge shot in the arm for our county, and the people here in Mills County, to create not just the jobs for folks here, but for also the farming community,” he said. “The economic impact will trickle throughout.”

Matt Deppe, CEO of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Assoc., said the organization looks forward to the plant providing an opportunity to harvest cattle within the state of Iowa.

“This facility will provide another market access for Iowa’s cattle producers, with hopes of boosting cattle prices through competition, and giving the state a needed economic boost for agriculture, and the local area,” he said.

“We look forward to having continued conversations with the Cattlemen’s Heritage group, and how they can help our state’s cattle producers,” he added.