WRIGHT CITY, MO. — American Foods Group has opened an $800 million beef processing facility adjacent to I-70 in Wright City, about 50 miles west of downtown St. Louis. The 800,000-square-foot facility is known as America’s Heartland Packing LLC. The project was the focus of a FreightWeekSTL panel discussion hosted by the St. Louis Regional Freightway.
Cattle are primarily shipped to the facility on trucks through the interstate highway system, as well as the associated packaging equipment needed for shipping outbound products. On average, the property receives about 10 trucks of cattle every weekday, with the plant harvesting about 400 cattle per day. The plant produces varying types of beef, including ground beef and different cuts of steaks. The facility ships out eight to 10 trucks of finished products per day to grocery stores, further processors, food service providers and schools.
The Missouri Department of Transportation is investing $2.8 billion to add a third lane in each direction along nearly 200 miles of I-70 between St. Louis and Kansas City, a major project that is expected to benefit the new beef facility. Operations are expected to increase significantly at the facility in the future. Full operational capacity is anticipated to be reached over the next 18 months, with harvesting numbers increasing from 400 cattle per day to 2,400.