FORISTELL, Mo. (KMOX) -- Steaks to celebrate? We have additional details on Warren County getting chosen for a new beef production plant and how it could help get more meat back on grocery store shelves.
American Foods Group will spend $450 million to build the beef plant in Foristell and hire 1,300 workers to run it. The average pay is expected to be about $50,000 a year plus benefits.
"A ton of families depend on these jobs," says Greater St. Louis Inc. CEO Jason Hall.
"American Foods Group is a phenomenal, family-owned, U.S.-based company that is highly respected throughout the animal industry and in the communities where they live and work," Warren County Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus said in a statement.
At a time when consumers are complaining about product shortages -- and retailers missing out on sales due to empty stockrooms-- Hall tells KMOX News that this new facility will bring production closer to customers.
"This investment will strengthen our food security by strengthening our supply chain, and of course St. Louis becomes the big winner in this."
He also says Missouri farmers will have a closer customer, one who could help sell their beef overseas.
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"This does create a range of export opportunities for us," Hall says. "Having an asset like this makes us a production powerhouse on a product that most people use."
"As a third-generation farmer and cattleman myself, I know how beneficial having a company like American Foods Group in Warren County will be for Missouri's farmers and consumers," Governor Mike Parson said in a statement.
Hall adds that an infusion of jobs like this is just what the region needs.
"We know from the Census data we need to grow. We need to get our act together," he says.
St. Louis already has a global reputation as an agriculture hub, with more plant scientists working in the region than anywhere else.
The STL 2030 Jobs Plan notes that 50 percent of U.S. crops and livestock are produced within 500 miles of the St. Louis metropolitan area.
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