Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig visited the Knoxville Hormel plant and Suly Locker & Market on Friday.

The visit to Knoxville’s Hormel plant, which produces over a million pounds of dry sausage a week, was part of Naig’s annual visit to all 99 counties. Naig toured the meat processing facility, met with plant leadership, employees and Knoxville Mayor Brian Hatch. Naig says he wanted to hear what they see, how they see the marketplace, what some of their challenges are, and learn if there are growth opportunities for a plant like Hormel in Iowa. Naig tells KNIA/KRLS that facilities like Hormel continue to show why Iowa is not just a national leader in agriculture, but food production as well.

“This plant right here in Knoxville is serving a significant percent of the US pepperoni needs but also consumers around the world and that all brings value right back here to Marion County,” Naig said.

Naig also made a visit to Sully, where he toured the locker, learned about the business, and talked about the Choose Iowa program.