Newspaper article from our research archive:

When Cattle Farms Left Iowa, So Did Beef Processing Plants.

Byline: Matthew Wilde

Sep. 16--TAMA, Iowa--Beef processing plants, like cattle farms, used to be plentiful in Iowa.

Not any more.

Twenty-five years ago almost every Iowa farmer lived within 100 miles of a beef packing plant. They were all over --- Des Moines, Hospers, Tama, Oakland, Le Mars, Mason City, Fort Dodge, Spencer --- not to mention those in neighboring states. Even Rath Packing in Waterloo accepted cattle briefly in the late 1950s.

Now, only IBP Inc. in Denison and AgriProcessors Inc. in Postville remain.

Industry experts said packers locate where the cattle are. When they left the state, so did the packing plants.

John Lawrence, an Iowa ...

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