DES MOINES, Iowa – After local officials in Mason City, Iowa, denied a proposal for Clinton, North Carolina-based Prestage Farms, Inc., to build a new pork processing plant involving large tax incentives under its newly formed entity, Prestage Foods of Iowa LLC, the Iowa Economic Development Board approved another $11.5 million tax incentive package for the plant to be built in Wright County.

In a special board session that was held Aug. 18, the company was awarded tax benefits via the High Quality Jobs Program (HQJP) for this project and is expected to create 922 jobs, of which 332 are incented at a qualifying wage of $15.54 per hour, according to the Iowa Economic Development Board.

Prestage Foods says it plans to buy 40 percent of the hogs for the new plant from local, independent farmers in addition to impacting the local economy with $1.8 million in taxes annually for the first 10 years the plant is in operation.