(FROM Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) More than $1 billion in new factory investments are coming to Jefferson County, mirroring the growth in U.S. manufacturing by foreign-owned companies and increased emphasis on labor-saving technologies.
Japanese soy sauce maker Kikkoman Foods said in April it would spend $560 million to build a factory in the city of Jefferson, 33 miles southeast of Madison. The same week, Nestlé Purina PetCare, whose parent company is Swiss, said it would spend $195 million on an expansion of its Jefferson plant.
In March, ClonBio Group, from Ireland, announced it was spending around $500 million to expand its ethanol plant in Johnson Creek, approximately 10 miles from Jefferson.
If the dollar amounts are fully realized, the three foreign investments would total nearly $1.3 billion in Jefferson County’s industrial base — a sizable amount for a county of 86,000 residents, where agriculture is an economic driver and plans call for growth in food-and-beverage manufacturing.
City of Jefferson plans an innovation campus
The county says it will use 175 acres it owns in the city of Jefferson to create a Food and Beverage Innovation campus. Officials said they had sought the best use for that property, on Industrial Avenue bordered by Highway 26 and the Union Pacific Railroad, for 30 years.