Food Manufacturing

Employees: 3,615

Businesses: 61

2006 employee wages: $131.1 million

Example companies: Kraft, Willow Brook Foods, American Dehydrated Foods

Mike Briggs, president of Willow Brook Foods Inc., said southwest Missouri has historically been a strong food producer because of the area’s agricultural roots.

“A company like Willow Brook, we’ve had a presence in some form since the 1930s,” Briggs said. “American Dehydrated Foods is an outcrop of the poultry business as well.”

He said the area’s transportation network and central location make shipping to major centers such as Chicago and Dallas easier.

The sector does face issues, notably increasing production costs. Briggs said that Willow Brook is fighting rising costs for corn, which the company feeds to its turkeys and chickens. So far in 2007, the company has spent $10 million more on corn than during the same period in 2006.