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New beef processing plant set to break ground in MO

American Foods Group is set to break ground on a new cattle processing facility in Warren, County Missouri.

Missouri Ag Director Chris Chinn tells Brownfield the coming $450 million plant will process 2,400 cattle daily.

“They’ll purchase from sale barns, direct off the farm; they’ll purchase as few a head as one, or they’ll purchase an entire goose neck trailer full, or a semi-trailer full,” she said.

Missouri Cattlemen’s Association President Bruce Mershon tells Brownfield the plant will help boost local market competition and safeguard against a lack of processing capacity like the backlogs caused by the Holcomb, Kansas plant fire and Covid19.

“This is a real boost for us locally,” Mershon said. “And we hope that that happens all across the country as we develop additional slaughter capacity and we’ll be able to have new players in the market to create more competition for our cattle.”

Chinn said the plant will hopefully incentivize more cattle to be fed out in what is already a top-ranking cow/calf production state.

“We see this as an opportunity for many family farms to bring that next generation back home to the farm or ranch,” Chinn said. “And we see it as a great opportunity to help grow our rural communities.”

AFG said the expected 500,000-square-foot plant will employ 1,300 workers.

Mershon said he appreciates the leg work put in by the University of Missouri, Farm Credit Services, and others in getting the American Foods Group plant to come to Missouri. Brownfield interviewed Mershon at the 2022 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in Reno, Nevada.

Brownfield’s Meghan Grebner contributed to this article.