Cargill to Fund Construction of Affordable Employee Housing in Fort Morgan, Colorado

Oct. 13, 2023

Shortage of affordable housing and child-care options has hampered many of the 2,000 employees at Cargill’s Fort Morgan beef-processing plant.

Andy Hanacek

Cargill Inc. will spend $40 million on construction of employee housing in Fort Morgan, Colo., where it owns and operates a beef-processing plant, according to a report in The Denver Post. The Fort Morgan plant, which was acquired by Cargill in 1987 and sits about 80 miles northeast of downtown Denver, employs approximately 2,000 people.

Cargill will partner with a real estate development firm to build 150 housing units to address the area’s shortage of affordable housing. The units are expected to be available for rent and purchase by January 2025, according to a spokesperson cited in the news story.

In addition, Cargill is giving $100,000 to United Way of Morgan County to help solve the issue of child-care access in the county and another $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs in neighboring Weld County for programming on Mondays during the current school year. The local school district had switched to a four-day school week this August, with Mondays off for the children.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.