Jeffrey Johnson, Iowa Premium Beef CEO, explains the distribution center operation at the Iowa Premium Beef facility in Tama on Thursday, Oct. 16. The new building towers above the original plant building and will allow for both fresh and frozen meat shipments. Chronicle / News-Herald photos/John Speer

“It’s the right area at the right time,” Iowa Premium Beef CEO Jeffrey Johnson declared of the move to reopen the former Tama Pack in Tama. He said the opening continues to be planned for the end of October.

“We’re bringing the beef plants back into Iowa, where it’s ag-based. People are excited about agriculture in Iowa and we’re just another part of the agricultural community.”

His remarks came during a media tour he led of the plant on Thursday, Oct. 16. Dean Hansih, vice president and chief financial officer and Steve Armstrong, vice president beef trim and fabrication, were among company officials accompanying Johnson on the Thursday tour.

Right now he said there are 200 contractor employees and 120 IPB employees at work on the site completing a $47 million renovation and expansion.

When phase I is operating fully, a total of 1,100 head of cattle will be processed daily. The plans are to ramp up to 2,000 head daily. A total of 600 will be employed in Phase I Johnson said.

The boiler and physical plant area at Iowa Premium Beef is seen during the Oct. 16 media tour in Tama.

“We’ve had five town hall meetings around central Iowa within the 150 mile radius. We’ve had a lot of interest from the cattle feeders. Last year there was 650,000 cattle marketed within one hundred miles of us and 1.2 cattle marked within a 150-mile radius,” Johnson said. “We’re going to buy $650 million worth of cattle in this 1,l00-head phase.”

“It is important to understand the location of this beef facility,” Johnson said. “We’re right in the center of the number one corn producing state in the United States. The cattle numbers are moving north and the cattle numbers specifically in Iowa are going up.”

He stressed top quality cattle are the standard for buyers who will go to the family farm to buy.

Johnson said the modernization and expansion of the plant has been geared toward food, employee and environmental safety.

“Iowa Premium Beef has spent a lot of time before coming to market on the environmental safety, on the worker safety, on product quality, on environmental issues. Ouer capital plan was entrenched in those items that when we do come to market- it’s about compliance – it’s about quality – it’s about sustainability – its’ about continued improvement – that’s what our model is.

Rail area.

On the tour, Johnson explained innovative infrastructure system which include a boiler system which he said will use methane gas from the plant lagoons to supplmenet the natural gas supply which fire the boiler. It is expected to reduce the natural gas usage 25-30 percent, he said.

Among other features are provisions for animal safety including flexible floors in the cattle barn and the prohibition of the use of electrical prods to move cattle.

He said the plant has a custom designed information technology system which will allow for “real-time reaction” to problems and issues which are detected.

The new $7.5 million distribution center added to the front of the existing plant will enable IPB to store both fresh and frozen meats.

He said the executive management team has 140 years combined experience in the industry, much of it in start-ups and operations of regional plants.

He said employees will be put through “rigorous training” to know what is expected of them with the focus on employee and food safety and a quality product.

For the Tama-Toledo area, Johnson said “We’re going to bring a tax base to this community. Trucking companies and other infrastructure will be coming into the community.”

Board of Managers

Robert Evans is the chairman of the Iowa Premium beef Board of Managers. He previously worked in sales for Sandusky Dressed Beef Co. and served in various leadership roles for Wolverine Packing Co.

Bruce Rassiter serve as founder and CEO of Heartland Park Enterprises and Hawkeye Energy Holdings in Iowa. He currently is president of the Iowa Board of Regents

Cattle barn

Steve Pearson was ground beef production manager and later as vice president of Boxed Beef and Sales at Spencer Foods. He founded his own packing company, Beef Specialists of Iowa of which he was CEO from 1981-1997.

Tim Hussman is chief executive officer of Sysco Newport meat co, Inc. He is also chair of three Sysco-owned meat companies in the western U.S.

Justin Kirchoff is responsible for investment development at Summit Ag Investors. He hold the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.