FREMONT, NEB. – Farmer-owned pork processor Wholestone Farms announced on June 14 that it is planning to build a new pork slaughtering and processing facility in Sioux Falls, SD. The company said the project cost is estimated at $500 million and initially will employ more than 1,100 workers.

"Wholestone Farms and its farmer-owners have a strong culture of corporate citizenship and with many of our members currently living and doing business in the area, we look forward to being a preferred employer and impactful participant in the Sioux Falls community,” said Luke Minion, chairman of the board of Wholestone Farms. Minion also works for Pipestone Veterinary Services which is based in Sioux Falls. 

The proposed plan will have the facility located just off Interstate 229 and Benson Road in Sioux Falls.

Wholestone Farms, which was started in 2018, is owned by 200 independent family farmers raising livestock and crops in the upper Midwest. The members of Wholestone manage 400,000 acres of cropland and raise 12 million pigs annually. 

Smithfield Foods’ pork processing plant is also located in Sioux Falls and employs 3,700 people in the community.

In 2018, Wholestone purchased a pork processing plant in Fremont, Neb, which included a multi-year agreement to supply pork raw materials to Hormel.