Springfield’s Vital Farms expands “Egg Central Station,” adding jobs too
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Springfield’s Vital Farms expands its egg washing and packing plant.
The farm held a ribbing cutting ceremony Monday morning. The expansion brings 50 new jobs to the community. The jobs run across the board, including those experienced with food manufacturing, maintenance, and shipping.
“We have jobs for people all across the board, and we’re growing so darn fast we need all the help we can get,” said Russell Diez-Canseco, President and CEO of Vital Farms. “Like everything across our business, Egg Central Station is a reflection of how we make decisions to support the long-term sustainability of our stakeholders, who include farmers and suppliers, crew members, customers and consumers, communities and the environment, and stockholders.”
The building doubles its capacity. It brings even more high-quality, high-paying jobs to the community.
“You take a production here, going from three million eggs a day to six million, and now all of a sudden, you’re starting to realize 11% of the population in the United States is with that product it’s a big deal for southwest Missouri,” said Governor Mike Parson. “There’s no question in our area that we are leading the nation in a lot of areas when it comes to workforce development.”
The expansion uses solar panels, LED lights that improve energy efficiency by 50%, and bio-retention tools that conserve more than 700,000 gallons of water.
The industry faces difficulties because of the avian bird flu, but Vital Farms has not run into this issue.
“We have been practicing industry biosecurity practices from day one before, during, and after an outbreak like this, and I’m happy to say that none of our birds had been affected,” said Diez-Canseco. “We are certainly seeing that it’s affecting the price on the shelf and sometimes scarcity on the shelf, so we’re doing our best with this expansion to bring as many eggs as possible to the American public,” said Diez-Canseco
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