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Corn syrup production is good for Webster County

New product at Cargill plant brings many benefits to area

Webster County has developed a sterling reputation as a place for value-added agricultural production.

Plants in the county, especially in the industrial park called Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation, produce ethanol, dextrose, and amino acids, to name just a few products. But none of those plants have produced anything that would be an ingredient in foods that people would eat.

Until now.

The Cargill facility in Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation now makes corn syrup, much of which will be used as a sweetener in candy.

This corn syrup has been heralded as the first food-grade product made in Webster County.

The corn syrup joins the list of the plant’s other products, which are dextrose, ethanol, feed for cattle, corn protein meal fed to poultry, corn germ and a molasses like substance called corn steep liquor. Adding to the list of products is a good move, More products means more viability and sustainability for the plant. It means if there is some drop in demand for one of the products there are plenty of other things to keep the plant and its employees busy.

The plant employs about 160 Cargill workers plus about 80 other people who work for various contractors that are at the site daily. Adding corn syrup production did not create a bonanza of new jobs, and Cargill never claimed that it would. But it has created opportunities for existing employees to get more training and move into better paying positions. That is good. We are happy to see Cargill employees – our friends and neighbors – making some more money. Putting more money in their pockets will have a beneficial effect throughout the area economy.

The addition of the corn syrup line also assures that the plant will continue to be a place farmers throughout the region will be selling their corn. The plant already uses 150,000 bushels of corn a day.

The Cargill plant opened in 2013, and since then, it has been nothing but a benefit to the community. The continued reinvestment demonstrated by the creation of the corn syrup production facility means that the plant will be a major player in the local economy for years to come.

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