The Iowa Farm Bureau is making a one million dollar investment in the beef packing plant in Tama. Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Lang of Brooklyn says the investment in the Iowa Quality Beef plant is part of the Farm Bureau’s long-term goal to boost the cattle industry. He says one of the best ways to achieve that goal is to have a “harvest facility” like the slaughter plant in Tama. The one million dollars buys 20-thousand shares of “Class B preferred stock” in the plant. That means the Farm Bureau owns a 10-percent of the shares. Lang says the investment shows the Farm Bureau is committed to the beef industry and to creating jobs of value in Iowa. Lang says the one million dollar Farm Bureau investment is helping the plant secure a bank loan. Lang says the plant is already making a difference in Iowa’s economy. The plant opened this past summer, and Lang says as he commuted along I-80 between his home in Brooklyn and Farm Bureau headquarters in West Des Moines, he saw a significant increase in the number of cattle trucks. Lang says about half of Farm Bureau members who are active farmers raise livestock. The Iowa Quality Beef plant is slaughtering about five-hundred head of cattle per day. The goal is to slaughter 12-hundred cattle per day.
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