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Forty-three oceangoing vessels are headed from the Netherlands to the East Coast with specialized equipment for Luverne’s former IBP plant.
Premium Iowa Pork is investing $30 million to retrofit the 50-year-old facility for pork processing, and the company has developed a preference for certain manufacturers.
The Netherlands provides harvest line equipment that PIP prefers, and additional cut floor equipment is coming from Quebec, Canada, according to company president Dan Paquin, Hospers, Iowa.
He admits it’s not easy to build a highly specialized operation that runs on the latest technology designed for safety, quality and efficiency.
“The question I get the most is, ‘How do you figure out how to put all this stuff in here?’ And the answer is, ‘We have a lot of good people,’” Paquin said.
“It’s a combination of a lot of people with a lot of knowledge and talents.”
He led Luverne City Council members and community leaders on a site tour Oct. 22 to see progress since they last toured in June.
“It’s a good time to see the progress,” he said.
Places that once had only poured footings are now enclosed, and key components of the operation are taking shape.
But interior spaces are still vastly empty, waiting for equipment deliveries.
“They’ll be surprised at what it looks like in six months when everything is in, compared to what it looks like now,” Paquin said.
“It’s just really rewarding to come back later and see it all working.”
Production starts in April; name becomes Premium Minnesota Pork
Premium Iowa Pork has been providing private-label, antibiotic-free pork to grocery stores across the country since 2005.
All antibiotic-free pork comes from Midwest farms, and all products are currently prepared, processed, and packaged at the Hospers, Iowa, facility.
Starting early in April 2020, the Luverne facility will join the production ranks, at first with 1,200 hogs per day, and working up to the plant’s permitted 2,200 hogs per day once wastewater treatment processes are in place.
Meanwhile, the Luverne plant will be called Premium Minnesota Pork, a decision endorsed by the parent company, Lynch Livestock.
“We’ll still be a subsidiary of Premium Iowa Pork, but we do raise a fair amount of pork in Minnesota,” Paquin said. “We decided it made sense to name our Luverne plant Premium Minnesota Pork.”
Construction began late in 2018 to retrofit the local 78,000-square-foot plant, which first operated in Luverne as Iowa Beef Processing, to modern hog slaughter operations.
The company expanded the east side of the building by roughly 12,500 square feet for a total area of 90,500 square feet.
Changes to the property conform to the existing uses permitted by the zoning.
Paquin said the company has aspirations to one day expand the Luverne facility with new construction to process 4,500 hogs per day if market demand continues.
He said energies will focus initially on plant startup and hiring — first with about two-dozen management personnel, and then production workers.
Employees in Iowa currently start at $13 per hour, but Paquin said the company will consider market forces and economic data before setting Luverne’s salary range.
“We want to be attractive for employees,” he said. “I feel pretty good about where we’re at for hiring.”
Initial production will require 200 workers (at somewhere between $13 to $20 per hour) in Luverne. That number could grow to more than 300 employees, depending on growth.