North-central Indiana update: the region's top business stories.
Author | Mayer, Kathy |
Position | Influence of growth of business on regional development |
EIGHT NEW AGRI-businesses--six of them producing alternative fuels--and a dozen new or expanding manufacturers are helping the 10-county north-central Indiana region with new investments and job growth.
Alternative fuels. "The Andersons has created the largest dry mill ethanol plant this side of the Mississippi river at 110 million gallons," Nolan "Skip" Kuper, president of the Logansport/Cass County Economic Development Foundation, says of the Ohio-based agribusiness company The $145 million plant in Clymer employs 45.
In Tipton, ASAlliances Biofuels announced in May it has begun negotiations on a $125 million ethanol production facility, says William Keir, executive director of the Tipton County Economic Development Corp.
Wabash County will soon bring two ethanol plants online, says William Konyha, executive director of the Economic Development Group of Wabash County Poet Energy broke ground in July for a $130 million facility in North Manchester that will open in 18 months, employ 45 and produce 60 million gallons a year. Twenty-five miles south, Wabash Agriproducts breaks ground in August for a $200 million ethanol plant as the anchor tenant in a yet-to-be-named new agri-industry park in La Fontaine. It will employ 50 and produce 88 million gallons a year when it opens in about 18 months.
In White County, VeraSun Energy has begun construction of a 110-million-gallon-a-year ethanol production plant in Reynolds that will begin operations by the end of 2008, reports Connie Neininger, executive director of the White County Economic Development Organization. And Liberty Landfill, owned by Waste Management, is now in the permitting stage for a bio-diesel plant it hopes to open in Buffalo in about 18 months. It would employ 16.
New dairies, Two new dairies are in the works for the region. In Royal Center, Far Hills Dairy is planning a $12 million investment for a 3,200-head operation that will employ 12. And in Carroll County, the Boerman-Carroll Dairy has completed the permitting process for a 4,200 milk cow operation, says Daryl Smith, executive director of the Carroll County Economic Development Corp. A fall groundhreaking is planned, with opening in about a year; it will employ 25 to 35.
Also in Carroll County, Indiana Packers in Delphi is growing. "They have invested $120 million in the last couple of years and are continuing that investment," Smith says. Recent expansions include a cafeteria, employee locker space and a cold storage...
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