Luverne, Minnesota — Hospers-based Premium Iowa Pork has taken possession of a former chicken processing plant in Luverne, Minnesota and is getting ready to open a pork slaughtering plant there.
Dan Paquin is the President of Premium Iowa Pork, based in Hospers. He gives us an update.
Paquin highlights some of the upgrades they will be making.
The plant, which started life as an IBP beef slaughtering plant, was built in the 1960s. The former IBP plant west of Luverne closed in 1998, putting 370 people out of work. Later that year, it became a Gold’n Plump chicken processing plant. In December 2016, Gold’n Plump was acquired by Pilgrim’s Pride. Less than 10 months later, Pilgrim’s Pride closed the Luverne plant, this time putting about 200 people out of work. Paquin says they plan to employ at least that many people when the plant opens in about a year.
Paquin says they raise a lot of their own hogs on farms around the area, but they also buy hogs. He says they will be looking to increase the number of hogs they buy this year in anticipation of starting the Luverne operation. He says if you’re interested, you can get a hold of Premium Iowa Pork’s livestock group. He says they will be buying in a basically 150-mile radius of the Luverne plant, the same as they have been doing for their Hospers facility. And contrary to the name, he says they do buy hogs from Minnesota and South Dakota too, as well as some in Missouri and Kansas.
