Farmland National
To Expand Plants

LIBERAL, Kan. —(AP)— One of the nation's largest beef producers plans to create up to 550 jobs in two southwest Kansas towns as part of its $14.5 million expansion project there.

Officials at Farmland National Beef, the country's fourth-largest beef packing company, said the expansion would add 400 jobs to its plant in Liberal and up to 150 jobs in Dodge City.

National Beef already is Liberal's largest employer, with about 2700 workers. The Dodge City plant employs 1450 people.

City commissions in Liberal and Dodge City have been asked to approve $1 million in industrial revenue bonds for National Beef to help finance the expansions.

The $6 million Liberal expansion calls for a "value-added production area," Mayor Ivanhoe Love Jr. said.

Beef production at the plant would remain unchanged; instead, the meat-packing process would be improved and made more user friendly, said National Beef general manager Steve James.

Work at the Liberal plant should be done by Aug. 1, with the plant fully staffed three to four months after that.

The Dodge City expansion, costing $8.5 million, will add a ``hotbox'' that helps process meat by cooling it. That project should be completed in 12 to 15 months.

While Love lauded National Beef and its expansion, he said it could add to an existing housing crisis in Liberal.

Trailmobile Refer Corp., which opened a plant in Liberal last year, has only hired half of the 200 employees it planned thus far, Love said. Lack of housing has contributed to the slower-than-planned growth. Trailmobile plans to employ eventually up to 400 people.

To deal with the shortage, Liberal created a position for a housing director, which has yet to be filled.