Elwood — Seaboard Farms has abandoned its plans to build a pork processing plant in Elwood, just three months after the company said it expected to begin construction soon.
The Merriam-based company released a brief statement about the plant on Wednesday that did not indicate a reason for halting the project. The $130 million plant was expected to employ 2,300 people and process 16,000 hogs per day.
The Seaboard Corp. gave no indication of future plans except to say on their company Web site that, "The company will continue to explore alternatives to increase processing capacity."
Charles Benjamin, lobbyist for the Kansas Sierra Club, said the decision would come as a relief to many people in the area worried about infrastructure, social and environmental impacts on Elwood and surrounding counties.
"It will certainly take a load off a lot of people's minds in Northeast Kansas," Benjamin said.
"I'm sure they've considered some other sites," said Donald Stull, a Kansas University anthropology professor who's studied the impact of hog farms on communities.
Seaboard representatives were unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Benjamin said the project was probably abandoned because it was no longer economically attractive. Environmental factors were a consideration, including an expensive water-treatment plant that would have to be implemented to ensure high quality discharge into the Missouri River.
Benjamin also speculated that there may not have been enough hogs in the surrounding states to support the plant and that local opposition may have been a factor.
Paul Johnson, a Perry farmer and legislative advocate for several farmers' groups, is a member of the opposition. He called the abandoned plans "great news."
Johnson said he was concerned about the strains on the community that the plant would bring. The area was not capable of supporting over 2,000 workers, their housing and medical care, he said. He also was concerned with the poor wages and high turnover the plant might bring.
"It was a bad idea the wrong-sized plant in the wrong place," Johnson said. "It didn't fit in Elwood, and that sized plant probably doesn't belong in Kansas anymore."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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