Pasture-raised products from Vital Farms have found a home on Springfield’s range at Partnership Industrial Center West.
The Austin, Texas-based company is scheduled Wednesday to break ground on a planned processing plant at the corner of North Alliance Avenue and West Production Street, according to officials from the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Springfield Business Development Corp.
SBDC officials have been working to recruit the company, which processes eggs from pasture-raised chickens and butter from grass-fed cows for retail grocery sales. Vital Farms’ planned investment was not disclosed, and officials involved with the project could not be reached for comment by Springfield Business Journal’s news deadline.
Vital Farms purchases eggs from family-owned farms, requiring 108 square feet of pasture per hen, according to the company’s website. The company is seeking to expand contracts with new farms in southern Missouri and Arkansas.
In December, Vital Farms announced plans to build a 65,000-square-foot, $11.5 million egg-grading center in Joplin. Mid States Specialty Eggs also co-packs eggs for Vital Farms from a facility in Sedalia.
The groundbreaking comes two months after industrial washer parts manufacturer
JRI Holdings Inc. announced plans to lease a 66,000-square-foot building in PIC West owned by Rich Kramer Construction. SBDC officials said this summer about 135 acres of the 300-acre park was developed. Investors have spent $13.8 million developing the 15-year-old PIC West and could spend another $2.5 million to build it out for future tenants. The industrial park’s
website lists nine current tenants.
