Animal Processing
Kansas has a strong history of agriculture. Kansas has 45+ million acres of farmland and is the #1 producer of wheat and sorghum and #3 in cattle production and beef processing.
Cloud County has an extremely high concentration of animal (except poultry) slaughtering at almost 12 times the national average. The table below highlights some of the region and state’s animal processing industry strengths using location quotient (LQ). Location quotient (LQ) is a way of quantifying how concentrated a particular sector is in a region as compared to the nation. For example, the Animal Production LQ in CloudCorp’s region is 4.59, which means that this industry is almost 5 times more concentrated in the CloudCorp region than the typical region.
| Industry | Greater Region LQ | Kansas LQ |
|---|---|---|
| Animal Production (NAICS 112000) | 4.59 | 3.13 |
| Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering (NAICS 311611) | 0.79 | 7.95 |
| Meat Processed from Carcasses (NAICS 311612) | 1.01 | 5.35 |
(Source: Emsi, 2020)
Cloud County Community College and North Central Kansas Technical College offer programs in Agriculture Production & Services, Agriculture Equipment Technology and more.
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Positioned for Success
Cloud County’s position in the center of the country is attractive in and of itself, but more than that this region and the state invest in infrastructure. The state of Kansas ranks #3 for infrastructure by CNBC’s 2019 Top States for Business and #6 best roads in the nation (Reason Foundation, 2019).
Highway
Cloud County, Kansas is located on Highway 81, the only four-lane highway connecting I-70 and I-80, two of America’s main arteries for shipping and distribution. Within a 500-mile radius of Concordia, companies can reach nearly 50 million people in several major Midwest markets.
Rail
BNSF runs through Cloud County and has a terminal stop in Concordia. In 2019-2020, Concordia Terminal LLC had the largest volume of grain business on the BNSF Railway in the continental United States. The terminal received a shuttle train of 112 cars on average every 2.5 days. Concordia Terminal LLC is considered a major shipper for BNSF and with this designation, train traffic and their ability to supply any form of additional revenue from this line is always welcomed.
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Kyle Short Line Railroad runs through Concordia, Kansas and interchanges with BNSF in Courtland, Kansas as well as with Union Pacific in Limon, Colorado and Salina, Kansas. Its top commodities are agricultural products, chemicals and plastics, food and kindred products, and mineral and stone.Â
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Concordia East Development property has dirt work completed for a rail spur and could be rail-served.
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