On Monday, Aug. 31, Senator Joni Ernst made a stop in Wright County as part of her 99 County Tour for 2020. The visit to Prestage Foods of Iowa was her second stop of the day that also included visits to Kossuth, Hancock, Winnebago, and Worth Counties.
Each of these destinations focused on animal-based operations, Iowa farmers, or biofuel producers. At Prestage Foods, the conversation focused on not only the meat that is being produced at the facility but also the people who work there.
“We’ve got a lot of people in this plant who left the state but came back (to Iowa) when this facility was built,” said Jere Null, chief executive officer of Prestage Foods.
After introducing Ernst to a few of those employees, Null went on to explain to her some of the statistics of the operation. The facility has the capability of processing 10,000 hogs per day, but they are currently averaging about 9,200 per day. They are currently operating one shift per day with 730 employees (out of 960 positions), but they would like to add a second shift just as soon as the first shift is at capacity. Ernst also seemed impressed to learn that the producer ships pork all over the world, including Texas, Washington, Oregon, the east coast, China, Japan, Canada, and Mexico to name a few.
“We are a proud exporter of U.S. pork,” said Null.
Ernst also asked the Prestage Food dignitaries about how they have been handling COVID-19.
“It’s been interesting, but we take it day-by-day,” said Null.
He explained that they’ve faired pretty well through it all, using a fogger on a daily basis in the beginning, and continue to do so now at least once a week. He also told her how the company tested the plant twice as well as serology (the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum) testing.
“It made a huge difference and I think it has helped us to have very few illnesses,” said Null.
“We’re in a different time right now and our focus now is on the HEALS Act,” stated Ernst in response.
The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act is a $1 trillion economic stimulus bill introduced by the United States Senate this year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ernst pointed out that she talks daily to people in Washington and the White House about what will be done next to help out people and businesses during this pandemic. She noted that one option is the $20 billion set aside so that USDA can delegate to specific industries. She also touched on Congresswoman and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s proposal of $2.2 trillion but won’t disclose exactly what’s all in the bill until after it has passed. Ernst made it very clear she would not support that kind of bill.
“It’s been really frustrating for our negotiations on COVID relief,” said Ernst. “We are hoping to vote next week on a package.”
Money was also brought up in regards to the U.S. Postal Service.
“The Post Office is operating in the black…they still have plenty of funds to operate,” said Ernst in response. “We’re not going to shut the Post Offices down.”
Other topics discussed during the visit included her campaign trail, over-regulating ag industries, and of course, the Midwest derecho.
“I can’t overstate how bad it is,” said Ernst. “I’ve done a lot of traveling to see storm damage and it’s devastating…I have never seen so many smashed homes and cars as I did in Cedar Rapids.”
Ernst was pleased to hear how Prestage Foods had been a part of disaster relief in the hardest hit area. They sent 6,000 servings of boneless pork to Cedar Rapids to help feed those who were without food and/or power as well as all the linemen and volunteers who came to help get things cleaned up and working again.
Before Ernst left for her next destination, she was excited to get a bird-eye view of the operations on the floor at Prestage.
“We’ve got great people working for us,” Null told Ernst as they watched the workers in action. “Most of them are local…Fort Dodge, Webster City, Eagle Grove, and Clarion.”
“I think your urbanomics are very good,” added Ernst.
From there, Null and the Prestage Foods group lead Ernst and her staff to a room where they were treated to some samples of pork loin wrapped in bacon and ribs, all from in-house production of course. Ernst, as the guest of honor, was asked to go through the line first.
“I could eat this all day,” she said after only the first couple of bites.
The allotted hour passed by very quickly for the Senator’s visit, but Null and the others wanted to make sure Ernst knew how thrilled they were that they were part of her 99 county tour.
“We appreciate you honoring us by coming here today,” said Null.
In order to follow public health guidelines, masks were worn and there were a limited number of participants at the visit.
