Wallaces Farmer

The land purchase for the Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef processing facility in western Iowa was complete at the end of 2022.

January 18, 2023

2 Min Read
artist's rendition of Cattlemen's Heritage Beef processing facility
RENDITION: Shown here is a rendition of the Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef processing facility which is to be built in Mills County, Iowa. The land purchase was made final at the end of 2022, and groundbreaking is expected this year.Courtesy of ESI Group

The Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Co. finalized the purchase of the 132-acre site of its planned 2,000-head per day beef-processing facility in Mills County, Iowa, on Dec. 30.

“I’m very appreciative of the cooperation, flexibility, patience and professionalism that the owners, their representatives and officials in Mills County demonstrated throughout this process,” says Chad Tentinger, principal developer. “Land purchases for projects of this size often take quite a while to complete and they often have unforeseen challenges, but everyone worked together very well from Day 1 and through negotiations until final documents were signed.”

The site is on the northwest quadrant of the Interstate 29 and Bunge Road intersection, just south of the Pottawattamie-Mills County line. Groundbreaking will take place this year.

“A facility of our size and scale requires a certain level of infrastructure and public utilities. In addition to those requirements, this site checks all the boxes for logistics when it comes to the level of truck traffic for cattle and raw goods coming into the plant, and processed goods leaving the facility,” he says. “Its proximity to I-80 is another logistical plus. With the eventual need for up to 800 employees, its location in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan statistical area is another valuable attribute.”

Other ag facilities nearby

Tentinger notes that the site is zoned for industrial development with emphasis on agribusiness-type operations, Bunge North America operates a soybean processing facility on the opposite side of Interstate 29, just east of the Cattlemen’s Heritage site. An ethanol plant is nearby.

“Our facility and its state-of-the-art operations fit the neighborhood, but we’ll also be putting our best foot forward in terms of an attractive public-facing design,” Tentinger says.

The company last year selected Gross-Wen Technologies, a leading algae-based wastewater treatment company, to provide contained treatment at the site. The technology will capture and offset several thousand tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere.

“That’s the equivalent of avoiding the use of 242,000 gallons of gasoline every year,” Tentinger says. “The nitrogen and phosphorus that it will recover will be converted into valuable, natural fertilizer for reuse by area farmers as part of our goal to create a carbon-neutral footprint.”

The land’s sale price was not disclosed.

Source: Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef

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