A G R I C U L T U R E
Where the Grass Is
Greener Kansas is an agricultural powerhouse.
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by G A R Y D A U G H T E R S
hen Cargill, Inc., decided it needed a new headquarters for its Protein business, the Minnesotabased agricultural colossus discovered that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the hill. After a search that included potential locations in Colorado and Texas, the nation’s largest privately-held company concluded that the best place of all was Wichita, Kansas, the unit’s home of 38 years. “At the end of the day we decided Wichita was right for us,” said Brian Sikes, head of the company’s global protein and salt business. “We didn’t choose Wichita because we thought we could survive, we chose Wichita because we thought we could thrive.” The $70 million investment yielded a distinctive, four-story facility in the heart of Wichita’s Old Town that’s surrounded by restaurants, shops and other businesses. It’s geared toward recruiting and retaining top talent. “We want to make Wichita the ‘Silicon Valley of Protein,’ bringing together the best minds, innovation and technology in the
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KANSAS: TO THE STARS
industry,” says Jon Nash, Cargill Protein’s North America president. Built to accommodate nearly 1,000 employees, the new headquarters is close to the Cargill Innovation Center, opened in 2011 through an investment of $15 million. Also nearby is Cargill Protein’s $90 million state-of-the-art biodiesel plant, which opened in 2019 and is capable of producing some 60 million gallons of biofuel a year. BEEF AND SORGHUM AND WHEAT, OH MY! As a protein producer, Kansas boasts some 27,000 cattle farms and ranches, accounting for over 11% of all cattle and calves sold in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Its 6.5 million cattle place it third in the nation. Beef cattle ranching and farming, including feedlots and dual-purpose ranching and farming sector is the top contributor in output to the Kansas economy, with approximately $8.8 billion in total output. The sector supports more than 37,000 jobs, also tops in the state.
