The local region is looking to better capitalize on its agricultural economy. Starke, Pulaski, and four other counties are working with the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission and the Purdue Center for Regional Development on an ag-based economic development strategy.
Consultant Connie Neininger told the Pulaski County Commissioners last week that the goal is to help rural communities add value to their existing assets. “For this region, we have identified four target sectors: agribusiness, food processing, and technology; forest and wood products; transportation and logistics; and energy, which includes fossil fuels and renewable energy,” Neininger explained.
She said the six-county region has a particularly high concentration of agribusiness and food processing, with more than 6,800 of its residents employed in that sector. Meanwhile, looking at what crops and livestock are produced in a particular area will help communities determine what types of processing facilities or other businesses to pursue. “It cuts their cost for transportation, and it allows them more financial resources to put into their workforce in skill training and in income,” she added.
Neininger said that at the end of the 18-month process, communities will have a strategy and action plan that they can implement. The effort is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, with local matches to come from participating counties.
