Dakota Turkey Growers plant provides needed boost to area’s economy
DAKOTA - As if the behemothic structure rising from the prairie all year hasn’t been evidence enough, the reality of a new era of turkey processing in Huron gets another shot in the arm as potential employees start applying for nearly 400 positions.A month from now, trucks will begin hauling in the state-of-the-art equipment Dakota Turkey Growers will use starting Jan. 2 to process four million turkeys a year. In three years, with two shifts, that number will double.
For DTG President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Rutledge, a 31-year veteran of the poultry industry, and the 44 Hutterite colonies in the Dakotas and Minnesota which own the plant, these are exhilarating days.
Not since 1988 has anyone in the industry built from the ground up. Rutledge came to Huron from West Liberty, Iowa, where he had helped turkey growers start a cooperative in a former Oscar Mayer plant.
Source: Plainsman
18 August 2005
1 minute read
