ConAgra Coming Our Way

ConAgra Foods Inc., a bitter rival of Springdale’s Tyson Foods Inc., may be riding the rails into Tyson’s backyard.

A Boone County official told us there have been talks with ConAgra concerning the possibility of the Omaha, Neb.-based company putting a Butterball turkey plant in Bergman. She said there was nothing official as of Sept. 27.

Bergman is a small town about seven miles north of Harrison. Tyson has had a feed mill in Bergman for almost 20 years. The Bergman facility has 52 employees.

A spokesperson for ConAgra would neither confirm nor deny the Butterball rumor.

ConAgra is building a grain silo in the Cotter area just west of Mountain Home.

The Missouri North Arkansas Railroad runs through Bergman, bringing grain to the Tyson facility. The rail that ConAgra will be using in Cotter will bring grain in from the Illinois and Indiana area, east of the states Tyson gets its grain from.

Union Pacific Railroad, also headquartered in Omaha, runs rail cars on the Cotter and Bergman rails.

“There has been no slow down in the amount of grain that’s come in [Bergman] for us,” said Tyson spokesman Ed Nicholson. “This won’t affect our operations.”

Tyson is the world’s largest poultry processor. When the acquisition of meatpacking giant IBP Inc. is complete, Tyson will manage 28 percent of the beef market, 25 percent of the poultry market and 18 percent of the pork market.

ConAgra is the top foodservice manufacturer and second largest retail food supplier in North America. It has 80,000 employees. Tyson has 68,000, but will add 52,000 once IBP officially joins its team.