Agri-Business
Lost Branch Blue Berry Farm is a family owned agri-business that has approximately 1400 blueberry plants in production with 600 more plants maturing for future berries…and plans to keep planting more. Lost Branch Blueberry Farm is the largest blueberry plantation in Northeast Missouri.
Agriculture is a strong component of our regional economy. Production of soybeans, corn, and row crops are supplemented by a strong livestock production industry. Recent growth of Agribusiness includes Farmland’s fresh meat production facility, Kraft Foods’ center cut bacon and ham facility, POET’s Bio-refining Ethanol Plant, and multiple Agribusiness facilities in our region.
Crop Production is Strong
Crop production stimulates local elevators and grain purchase and storage facilities. These facilities are important business components in small farming communities that surround Kirksville and Northeast Missouri
Agri-business plays a very important role in our economy. Farmland Foods has a major slaughtering facility in Milan, Missouri. It is supplied by one of the nation’s largest commercial hog producers, Premium Standard Farms. Premium Standard Farms (PSF) has confinement facilities in five different counties in northern Missouri. These production facilities are company owned as well as run by individual contractors. PSF has one of the most modern and sophisticated hog production facilities in the world, with the ability to control genetics from inception to slaughter.
Large Agri-business Companies
Agri-business in Kirksville is represented not only by large companies such as Farmland Foods and Premium Standard Farms, but also by local businesses such as Hollenbeck Honey Farm, Jacob’s Vineyard, Western’s Smokehouse, and Lost Branch Blueberry Farm.
In neighboring Macon County, POET Biorefining is one of Missouri’s earliest and largest producers of ethanol. Production Agriculture and Agribusiness are important components in the diversified economy of northeast Missouri.