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Iowa ag leaders disappointed in Mason City vote

hog barn-university of missouri extensionIowa agricultural leaders say they are disappointed that the Mason City City Council has rejected a development agreement for a proposed pork processing plant in the north-central Iowa community.

Wayne Fredericks of Osage, president of the Iowa Soybean Association, lives 25 miles east of Mason City.

“We’re in the heart of the most productive farmland in the world. And we’re in Iowa, where hogs is the number one livestock species raised,” Fredericks says. “It’s hard to set aside an island within this productive state and say, ‘no, we don’t want to have anything to do with agriculture’. And that’s kind of what Mason City is saying, in some respects.”

AUDIO: Wayne Fredericks

Bob Hemesath of Decorah is a pork producer and president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

“I’m disappointed in the fact that we talk about economic growth and we talk about value-added from an Iowa Corn standpoint, and livestock is one of our top customers,” says Hemesath. “The economic return that it can bring to the state of Iowa from the jobs that it can bring—I hope they can figure out a way to make it happen in Iowa. If it’s not Mason City, I hope it’s somewhere close by.”

AUDIO: Bob Hemesath

Iowa secretary of agriculture Bill Northey also weighed in.

“I’m sure hopeful at some point that it gets worked out, either there or maybe someplace else. But hopefully that new plant has a chance to be built,” Northey says. “It would be a good thing for agriculture and it’s going to be a good thing for a community that can see that many jobs.

AUDIO: Bill Northey

The future of the proposed plant is unclear. As of late Wednesday afternoon, Prestage Farms, the company behind the proposed facility, had not responded to Brownfield’s request for comment.

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