Posted on 06/28/2017 9:36:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The new $300 million pork processing plant being built at Sioux City is set to open in September, giving hog farmers in northwest Iowa and bordering states a new market. Officials of Seaboard Triumph Foods outlined their plans at a press conference at the recent World Pork Expo in Des Moines.
“We’re still on schedule and getting close to opening,” says Mark Porter, CEO of Seaboard Triumph. “We are planning to begin operations no later than the first week of September.” The Sioux City plant is an equal partnership between Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods.
Company officials say the Sioux City location gives them good access to a supply of market-ready hogs. The plant has access to transportation, an experienced workforce and a pro-business environment. “We’re very happy to be in Sioux City,” says Terry Holton, president of Seaboard Foods.
New plant will help boost hog prices
The facility is initially set to process about 10,000 hogs per day in a single shift. Seaboard Triumph officials say they plan to expand to a second shift next year, raising daily processing capacity to 21,000 hogs.
Seaboard and Triumph will each supply one-third of the hogs for the packing plant from producers who already contract to sell to each company. The remaining one-third of the hogs will be purchased from independent producers. The companies have been actively seeking production contracts with local farmers in recent months, preparing for the plant’s opening.
“One of the questions we get is what impact will the plant have on hog prices?” says Holton. “It will probably raise them, because we have new capacity and it will add to the demand for hogs. That’s how the market works.”
Filling 2,100 Iowa jobs may be tough
Seaboard Triumph plans to slowly ramp up production this fall as it trains new employees. The plant will create 1,100 new jobs, accounting for $48 million in payroll initially. The starting wage for production workers is expected to be $15. Holton says the majority of the jobs will be filled by local residents, adding to wages in a region that already has a relatively low unemployment rate. Sioux City’s unemployment rate has been running slightly below Iowa’s 3.1% unemployment rate.
Seaboard Triumph is also working with city and state leaders to assist immigrant refugees who are in need of jobs to fill some positions, says Porter. While the plant will initially employ 1,100 workers, officials expect to add an additional 1,000 workers by next summer, when it begins operating a second shift. Filling the 2,100 Iowa jobs may be tough, considering there are competing livestock and poultry processing plants in the area.
Immigrant refugee workers can help
In addition to recruiting workers regionally, Seaboard Triumph is working with the state of Iowa to make Sioux City a primary refugee resettlement location. The company has also talked with government agencies about supplying workers through a federal visa program.
“If we create the right working environment for people and offer fair benefits and wages, we believe we can attract the workers we need,” says Holton.
Another pork processing plant is under construction in northern Iowa. Prestage Foods, headquartered in North Carolina, is building a $240 million pork processing plant that’s expected to open in 2019. This plant, in Wright County in north-central Iowa, is expected to initially employ 920 workers.
Will there be a moozlem prayer room?
No, no one’s dream job but one that pays the bills and puts a bit in the bank.
Better than any “job” created during the Kenyan Occupation.
I don’t think it will be that tough to fill those jobs, even in Iowa. They’re talking about importing labor.
They will be making a film about this entitled “Porky’s Return”.
I hope their halal pork chops are extra thick for grilling.
I don’t think any Muzzies are going to work there. They wouldn’t touch pork.
Put security guards all around it during construction. Plan on it being a target of Islamics.
There’s a lot of hispanic population up here, and they work hard. This will be at least half hispanic work force when all is said and done. Probably 75%. We had a smaller hog processing plant an hour or so from here west, and another an hour north, both had good hispanic work force.
Anyone employed there can proudly proclaim,
“My work both violates Islam and repels Muslims!”
A fondness for bacon & barbecue would be a prerequisite, IMO.
Driving on I-29 thru Sioux City on a hot August night is blunt force trauma for your nostrils
Sioux City Sue... just became Sioux City Sooey!
“Not exactly the dream job”
I had a friend in the military years ago who threw a small party at his place and during one of the discussions about being in the military he went over to the kitchen drawer and pulled out this very sharp fairly long knife that had seen a lot of use. He showed everybody the knife and he said “See this knife?” He made sure everyone got a good look at it. “When I was young I used to have a job at a slaughterhouse.” His job was to slice the throats of the pigs who were freshly stunned and let them bleed out onto the floor down into the drain (the killin’ floor). He then said “every time I think of how much I hate the job I’m doing in the military I come home go to this drawer pull out this knife look at it for a moment and think - it’s really not that bad because I’ve worked at worse places”
For some reason I’ve never forgotten that example.
Which positions would those be, I wonder? In any case, I won't buy product that comes from this plant.
Hispanic folks aren’t usually called refugees, however. What’s up with the use of that description if the plant means Hispanics.
New group aims to help Somali immigrants in Siouxland blend cultures
I am grateful for people who work in pork processing plants.
I could kill and butcher my food if I had to, but I am glad I don’t. I appreciate that someone works hard to get it into that styrofoam tray for me at the supermarket.
And they can make a living doing it.
That’s why the Sioux City airport is designated SUX.
If there is one thing the military taught me, and I am grateful for it, is that there is no work that is too low or menial if it pays the bills.
Reminds me of a story:
A C-141-A Starlifter had been delayed for take-off for over an hour at Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, because a sewage repository had not been pumped out.
Finally a young airman wanders up to the aircraft with the approprirate equipment. The airman fiddles around for a while, does his thing, and then gets ready to leave.
The aircraft commander, a young captain, confronts the airman. “You’ve caused me to be two hours late for my take-off. I’ll see that you are not only reprimanded, but punished as well! “
At that the young airman, smiles. “Sir, with all due respect, I have no stripes, I’m stationed at Thule, Greenland, it’s 20 degrees below zero, and I’m pumping s#!+ from your aircraft. Just what kind of punishment did you have in mind? “
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