Australian manufacturer plans $2M investment in Rogersville

Australia-based agricultural machinery manufacturer Kelly Tillage is planning an assembly facility in the Ozarks, and it’ll be the first outside of its home country.

Rogersville has been selected for the project, for which Kelly Tillage is investing $2 million and creating 22 jobs, according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

“We are excited to be building a new assembly facility in Missouri to service the North American market,” said Calvin Stead, managing director and CEO of Kelly Tillage, in the release. “We have been selling machines in the U.S. for two decades and have experienced significant growth over that time. This is the next logical step in our global expansion.”

Kelly Tillage produces shallow tillage disc-chain technologies, which help farmers with seedbed preparation and machine residue in fields, and provides mechanical weed control options, according to the release. Its equipment is used in 34 countries.

The company is utilizing incentives from the Missouri Works program, which provides withholdings or tax credits in exchange for facility expansions or new jobs, according to the DED website.

“As our agricultural industry continues to grow, we welcome Kelly Tillage to Missouri,” Gov. Mike Parson said in the release. “As this global agricultural manufacturer invests and creates jobs in Rogersville, we look forward to the benefits it will provide to the community and the Missouri agriculture industry as a whole.”