Windom Pork Processing Plant may lay off 1,000 employees

WINDOM, Minn. (KEYC) - HyLife, the pork processing plant in Windom may lay-off more than 1,000 employees. Saving those jobs all depends on if the current owners are able to find a new owner in time.

“It would really affect a lot of families who have come for the reason of finding work,” said Lynn Stoneking, a Windom resident. “And not just them, but also local families who have lived here for a lot of years too,”

The current ownership purchased the facility in 2020, but since then, the business has faced continued challenges; including inflation, increased grain costs, and continued operational losses. But for City Administrator Steve Nasby, the focus in on those who work there.

”The workforce is the key to that facility and so transitioning to a new buyer, they would want to keep that workforce,” explained Nasby. “We want to keep, you know, that workforce within the community. There’s economic impacts all up and down the chain, whether it’s transporting hogs to the facility, the hogs themselves, transporting product out, or the workforce that’s producing that pork.”

The company says if they can’t find a buyer, they would close the plant -- effectively terminating all of HyLife’s employees.

“The pig market has been big for rural Minnesota and for people around here,” said Stoneking. “And so it’s, you know, ‘where am I going to truck my product now?’”

Still the city remains optimistic.

“I mean, it’s just a turnkey operation at this point,” said Nasby. “They’ve got a new facility. They’ve got a very able workforce the utilities and things like that are all in place... transportation is in place. So we’re hoping for a very smooth and quick transition into a new buyer.

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