The Minnesota Department of Agriculture hosted a meeting this week to discuss possible options for the HyLife Foods Windom, LLC pork production plant. Earlier this month, the company notified state officials the plant will permanently close in June if a new buyer is not found.

Headquartered in La Broquerie, Manitoba, the company announced in May 2020 that it has purchased 75% equity interest of Prime Pork LLC from Taylor Corp. A recently renovated processing facility that processes approximately 1.2 million hogs per year, Prime Pork increased HyLife's processing capacity to 3.2 million hogs annually.

In a WARN notification letter sent April 10 to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the company said "current ownership purchased the facility in 2020 with a goal of turning operations around and, since that time, has been fully committed to that objective as evidenced by our investment in plant improvements and our strong community involvement. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, we have had to combat a number of challenges, including inflationary pressures, high grain costs, foreign exchange rates and the plant's operational losses.

"For some time now, the Company has been exploring several strategic options that would have enabled it to continue go-forward operations despite these financial challenges. Unfortunately, so far, these efforts have not been successful."

Tuesday's meeting included the city of Windom, staff from Minnesota's congressional delegation, Sen. Bill Weber, Rep. Marj Fogelman, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority.

According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, city and state officials and policymakers stand ready to work with HyLife to help secure a new buyer for the facility, placing an emphasis on housing and infrastructure needs. Support for the nearly 1,000 plant workers remains a focus as well as the prosperity of the Windom area and southwest Minnesota.

Following the meeting, the company reiterated its position to Windom Mayor Dominic Jones of actively working toward selling the facility and continuing to operate production for the immediate future.