Osceola Archives - Missourinet

Beef plant that opened in March in western Missouri now has 175 employees

July 6, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A veteran Missouri lawmaker who serves on the House Agriculture Policy Committee says the newest modern beef processing plant built in the United States now has about 175 employees in western Missouri’s Lone Jack.

The Republic Foods beef facility is located in far western Missouri’s Lone Jack, a town of about 1,000 residents (June 2020 photo courtesy of Rep. Warren Love)

Lone Jack is a small town of about 1,000, and is southeast of Lee’s Summit. It’s located in Jackson County.

State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, tells Missourinet that Republic Foods started operating the plant in March. He says it is processing about 250 head of beef cows per day. Missourinet contacted the company, which confirms the numbers provided by Love.

“These are what you call hamburger cows,” Love says. “They come in, they’re completely deboned, the meat is, then it’s processed into hamburger. They call it lean-trim.”

Love says about 75 percent of the cows are purchased in Missouri.

Love and other state lawmakers toured the plant in June, and were joined by representatives of the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA). Love says the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association and Missouri Farm Bureau also participated in the tour.

“I think there were eight legislators, seven of them from the House, all serve on the Ag (House Agriculture Policy) Committee,” says Love. “And then we had one senator, Senator Justin Brown from Rolla.”

Senator Brown co-chairs the Joint Committee on Agriculture.

Love, who’s finishing his eighth and final year in the House because of term limits, is a member of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association. He says it’s possible that the Lone Jack plant could receive some of the $20 million in assistance appropriated by the Legislature this year for meat processors dealing with COVID-19.

The $20 million is for plants with less than 200 employees. It’s designed for support, workforce assistance, equipment and capital improvements.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, which was recorded in June 2020:

Historic rural Missouri municipal band recognized by Missouri lawmakers

June 27, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A municipal band in southwest Missouri’s El Dorado Springs has been honored by the Missouri House, as the longest continuously performing municipal band in the state.

State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, presents a Missouri House resolution to the El Dorado Springs Municipal Band in June 2020 (photo courtesy of Representative Love’s office)

State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, presented the resolution to the band earlier this month, noting they’re also one of the oldest municipal bands west of the Mississippi River.

“It’s unbelievable that a small town like El Dorado has that much talent and they said they’re 135 years old,” Love says. “But they play every weekend, during the summer months, there in that beautiful (city) park.”

El Dorado Springs, which is in Cedar County, has about 3,500 residents. It is located near Highway 54. The town Chamber of Commerce website notes the band plays during the summer months on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 and on Sunday afternoons at 2.

“The night I presented the resolution, I would estimate there were at least 40 members in the band that was all seated in the bandstand,” says Love.

Representative Love says the band plays many historic songs. His district includes Cedar County. The House resolution describes the band as a symbol of the town itself and “the treasured crown jewel of the of the El Dorado Springs community.”

El Dorado Springs began concerts in 1885, and the House resolution notes the band participated in the first train to arrive in El Dorado Springs in 1898. The band also escorted the first automobile through the town in 1908.

The Chamber website notes there was a large celebration in the park, at the end of World War I in 1918. The band performed a concert on Main Street, and the band’s drum corps marched up and down city streets. The website says church bells were ringing during the celebration, and that there were also shotgun blasts until the town’s hardware stores ran out of ammunition.

State lawmaker and rancher hopeful that Missouri will get cattle slaughter facility (AUDIO)

June 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A veteran state lawmaker who has served on the House Agriculture Policy Committee for eight years says Missouri needs a cow processing plant.

State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, is also a rancher. He notes Missouri is second in the nation in cow numbers.

State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, attends the Joint Committee on Agriculture hearing in Jefferson City on May 28, 2020 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“I don’t know that we can justify what I call a processing plant to justify processing what I call fed-cattle, most of those are further west of us. But we have a lot of cows in Missouri,” Love says.

Love, whose western Missouri district includes Warsaw and Wheatland, attended the recent legislative Joint Committee on Agriculture hearing in Jefferson City. He is pleased to hear the news from State Rep. Don Rone, R-Portageville, that an effort is underway to get a cattle slaughter facility in Missouri.

“And if you draw a 100-mile circle around Joplin, Missouri, you’re going to find a lot of cows. And I believe we can justify a cow processing plant of size big enough to compete,” says Love.

Love, a Missouri Cattlemen’s Association member, says there was a cattle slaughter facility years ago in western Missouri’s Rockville, which is in Bates County. Rockville is west of Osceola.

Love says the Rockville plant was used by cattle producers across southwest Missouri, as well as southeast Kansas, northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas.

During last week’s hearing, Representative Rone testified that he and State Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, met recently with retailers and meat wholesalers.

“This would be a processing plant in Missouri, for Missouri for Missouri-grown cattle and to be sold in Missouri,” Rone says.

Rone emphasizes the effort is in its very early stages, telling Missourinet we’re a “long way from brick-and-mortar.” A specific region hasn’t been selected.

Joint Committee on Agriculture Chairman Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, supports the plan. Supporters of the proposal hope to form a working group by July.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, which was recorded at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on May 28, 2020: