By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Moroni Feed Co., the country's oldest turkey growing
cooperative is constructing a new railroad unloading and
feed storage facility near Nephi.
The road, leading to the rail spur, is complete, said
Robert Garrett, Juab County Road Superintendent.
"The contractor, who built the road, used Elevator Road
to haul material to the site," said Garrett. Elevator Road
suffered some damage but was repaired by the county road
crew.
The company, founded in 1938, is expanding its feed
storage capability by constructing the new facility. In
addition, the company will now have access to the railroad
in order facilitate product shipping capacity.
David P. Bailey, is chief executive officer and president
of Moroni Feed which consists of 65 independent family-owned
farms.
Since 1995 , Bailey has held the position overseeing the
cooperative, the largest employer in Sanpete County with 875
workers. The company has an annual payroll topping $15
million.
The company's strength is vertical integration. Moroni
Feed's feed mill mixes and stores more than 150,000 tons of
feed per year, which turkey growers buy and deliver to their
farms. It owns half of a genetic line of turkey breeding
stock.
The cooperative's processing facility prepares more than
5 million turkeys for market annually in Moroni and at
another facility in Salina.
The commission is just glad to have the facility being
constructed in the county.
"It will be a good business to have in the area," said
Wm. Boyd Howarth, commission chair.
The company, along with the Nebraska Turkey Growers, also
owns turkey marketing company Norbest. And its Nutri-Mulch
division produces and sells more than 50,000 cubic yards per
year of nutrient-rich soil conditioner made from recycled
turkey litter.
The company also has made the transition to a year-round
slaughter production facility and, in addition to the
facility now under construction south of Nephi, is building
a 62,000-square-foot freezer at the processing plant
site.
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