“Damn fish ain’t bitin’. Think I’m going home and have a beer. You wanna beer, Fred?”
8. Nathan West Industries
Josh flipped on his computer and waited for it to boot up. He looked out his office window and thought about the conversation he’d had with his boss. He knew about the demise of several major newspapers around the country, but somehow he never believed it would happen to Farm Country News . He thought that the paper’s niche audience, people interested in farming and agriculture, would continue subscribing and advertising. He was obviously wrong about that.
Before the conversation with Bert, he hadn’t thought much about his future as a journalist. He’d been far too busy researching and writing stories—like the series that he’d just done on the Lazy Z feedlot operation in Missouri—stories that he hoped made a difference for the future of farming and agriculture in general. Now he began to wonder if he even had a future in journalism.
The computer screen glowed, and Josh clicked on his e-mail program. Since he’d been working undercover at the Lazy Z, he’d not kept up; now he stared at a list of 150 messages waiting to be opened, most of them junk—online shoe stores, sporting goods specials, deals from three different computer companies. He worked down the list, starting with the oldest and moving to the most recent, systematically deleting the junk and sifting through it for anything that might be important. He double-clicked on a message with the subject line “Nathan West Industries Expanding Operations.” The body of the message was a press release:
Nathan West Industries (NWI), with corporate offices in Dubuque, Iowa, announces today the purchase of substantial acreage in Ames County,Wisconsin. NWI plans to build a major hog-raising, farrow-to-finish operation on this new property. Once the company obtains the necessary permits, NWI will construct state-of-the-art buildings and equipment to care for a herd of 3,000 sows that will farrow about 75,000 hogs a year.
Nathan West Industries has hog operations in Iowa and North Carolina; this will be its first in Wisconsin. The company has a long history in agriculture, beginning as a grain storage and shipping operation in 1868, when the company bought midwestern farmers’ wheat and shipped it by steamboat down the Mississippi River.
In 1960, NWI opened its first broiler-chicken operation; it started its first feed-processing plant in 1965, which specialized in hog, beef, and poultry feed. Its first beef feedlot operation began in 1970. In 1985, NWI opened its first farrow-to-finish hog operation near Monona, Iowa.
Today, Nathan West Industries is the third largest agribusiness firm of its type in the United States. NWI is looking forward to a long and profitable future with its new operation in Ames County.
Josh hit the print button and a couple of minutes later was back in his boss’s office. He dropped the e-mail on Bert’s desk.
“Do you know about this, Bert?” Josh said.
His boss skimmed the piece of paper, then rubbed his hands through his shock of unruly gray hair.
“When’d you get this?”
“Just now.”
Bert took his wire-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“This is a big story,” he said. “Could be as big as the Lazy Z feedlot series.”
“Nathan West hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, has it?” Josh asked.
“Nope, not that I know of. But the company keeps a lid on everything it does. It’s privately owned; nobody knows how big it really is or how much money it makes. I do know that it’s one of the biggest integrated meat-producing outfits in the country.”
“I can see where this conversation is going,” Josh said.
“Yup, get out there and find out as much as you can about them. Folks here in Wisconsin need to know before they give the final OK for NWI to build.”
“There’s one thing I’m not going to do,” Josh said.
“What would that be?” Bert asked, smiling.
“I
8. Nathan West Industries
Josh flipped on his computer and waited for it to boot up. He looked out his office window and thought about the conversation he’d had with his boss. He knew about the demise of several major newspapers around the country, but somehow he never believed it would happen to Farm Country News . He thought that the paper’s niche audience, people interested in farming and agriculture, would continue subscribing and advertising. He was obviously wrong about that.
Before the conversation with Bert, he hadn’t thought much about his future as a journalist. He’d been far too busy researching and writing stories—like the series that he’d just done on the Lazy Z feedlot operation in Missouri—stories that he hoped made a difference for the future of farming and agriculture in general. Now he began to wonder if he even had a future in journalism.
The computer screen glowed, and Josh clicked on his e-mail program. Since he’d been working undercover at the Lazy Z, he’d not kept up; now he stared at a list of 150 messages waiting to be opened, most of them junk—online shoe stores, sporting goods specials, deals from three different computer companies. He worked down the list, starting with the oldest and moving to the most recent, systematically deleting the junk and sifting through it for anything that might be important. He double-clicked on a message with the subject line “Nathan West Industries Expanding Operations.” The body of the message was a press release:
Nathan West Industries (NWI), with corporate offices in Dubuque, Iowa, announces today the purchase of substantial acreage in Ames County,Wisconsin. NWI plans to build a major hog-raising, farrow-to-finish operation on this new property. Once the company obtains the necessary permits, NWI will construct state-of-the-art buildings and equipment to care for a herd of 3,000 sows that will farrow about 75,000 hogs a year.
Nathan West Industries has hog operations in Iowa and North Carolina; this will be its first in Wisconsin. The company has a long history in agriculture, beginning as a grain storage and shipping operation in 1868, when the company bought midwestern farmers’ wheat and shipped it by steamboat down the Mississippi River.
In 1960, NWI opened its first broiler-chicken operation; it started its first feed-processing plant in 1965, which specialized in hog, beef, and poultry feed. Its first beef feedlot operation began in 1970. In 1985, NWI opened its first farrow-to-finish hog operation near Monona, Iowa.
Today, Nathan West Industries is the third largest agribusiness firm of its type in the United States. NWI is looking forward to a long and profitable future with its new operation in Ames County.
Josh hit the print button and a couple of minutes later was back in his boss’s office. He dropped the e-mail on Bert’s desk.
“Do you know about this, Bert?” Josh said.
His boss skimmed the piece of paper, then rubbed his hands through his shock of unruly gray hair.
“When’d you get this?”
“Just now.”
Bert took his wire-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes.
“This is a big story,” he said. “Could be as big as the Lazy Z feedlot series.”
“Nathan West hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, has it?” Josh asked.
“Nope, not that I know of. But the company keeps a lid on everything it does. It’s privately owned; nobody knows how big it really is or how much money it makes. I do know that it’s one of the biggest integrated meat-producing outfits in the country.”
“I can see where this conversation is going,” Josh said.
“Yup, get out there and find out as much as you can about them. Folks here in Wisconsin need to know before they give the final OK for NWI to build.”
“There’s one thing I’m not going to do,” Josh said.
“What would that be?” Bert asked, smiling.
“I
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