Swenson: Effects of new Prestage plant

June 13, 2019
News

David SwensonDavid Swenson, associate scientist, was interviewed for a June 13th Iowa Farmer Today story on the effects of a new pork processing plant in Iowa's Wright County.

Prestage will help “stem but not reverse” the region's losses, potentially for the next two decades, Swenson said. “It's a reasonably good anchor for that regional economy.”

Swenson estimates Prestage's economic impact at $574 million, while Ernie Goss, a Creighton University economist, puts it closer to $1.7 billion, spread out across nine neighboring counties.

That's why Swenson disagrees with the state's $11.5 million tax incentive package for Prestage. The county also is providing $8 million in tax rebates.

“The plant was going to locate somewhere in that region,” he said. “There was no other place that plant would go to be profitable.”

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