Organic Beef Business Starting Up In Howard

Contact: Randy Parry or Mike Knutson,
MCCR at 772-5153
Email: knutsonm@alliancecom.net

Howard, South Dakota – October 14, 2003 – Mr. Randy Parry, executive director of Miner County Community Revitalization (MCCR), today announced the sale of the Howard Beef processing facility to Dakota Beef Company, LLC.

“We are pleased Dakota Beef selected Howard for the location of its first facility. MCCR sees this as an excellent way to increase employment opportunities for our community,” said Mr. Parry.

The sale of the Howard Beef building to Dakota Beef Company not only brings in the opportunity of new jobs, but also helps Dave Clarke to expand his Clarke Machine operation as well. It is hoped that this will be an economic benefit to Miner County.

Often times, economic development groups are asked to shoulder some of the risk in order to encourage a company to choose its community. However, in this case Dakota Beef not only purchased the plant outright, they also gave a $5,000 donation to MCCR for Children’s Care Corner, a local day-care center.

Dakota Beef Company will be a fully integrated beef processing company producing private label certified organic beef both for retail and food service industries. The company expects to finalize organic certification of its new plant and begin limited production of 100% organic beef products early next year. The plant will have the capacity to process more than 80 head of cattle a day, delivering approximately 70,000 pounds of 100% organic beef products daily.

“We believe Howard is the perfect place for our new facility,” said Mr. Scott Lively, president of Dakota Beef. “MCCR is a professional group with the ability to conduct a thorough due diligence and to recognize the potential of our business plan. The donation was simply a small way of giving back something to the community and saying thank you to MCCR for all of its hard work.”