BROADCASTS.com

Published: July 2, 2021, 3:53 p.m.

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It\\u2019s not often that a food manufacturing company announces plans to build a $500 million facility, but that\\u2019s what Fremont, Nebraska-based Wholestone Farms did in June.

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The producer-owned pork processor is expanding operations into Sioux Falls, South Dakota on land located near Interstate 229 and within an industrial park. The state-of-the-art pork harvest and processing facility will initially employ more than 1,100 people.

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Wholestone Farms was established in 2018 to create and capture value in the pork supply chain for its 200 members who are independent family farmers raising livestock and crops in the upper Midwest. The producer-owners collectively farm nearly 400,000 acres of cropland and raise 12 million pigs annually.

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Wholestone operates a pork processing facility in Fremont, Nebraska. Scott Webb, chief executive officer of Wholestone, said that facility currently is a one shift operation processing three million hogs a year. The plan is to double-shift the planned Fremont facility and raise production to about six million head \\u2013 but that leaves a gap the company is looking to fill with processing capacity in Sioux Falls.

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In this episode of the MEAT+POULTRY process, Webb shared more details about the proposed facility and how it symbolizes the producer-owners\\u2019 commitment to bringing the consumer closer to the farmer.

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