Marion County

When your county signature is popcorn, that spells agribusiness. Indeed, Marion County, just 40 miles north of Columbus and in the capital city's fast-moving line of growth, has a tremendous agribusiness base.

Wyandot, a Marion County stalwart for six decades, made the county famous for popcorn. A Popcorn Festival and a Popcorn Museum celebrate the impact on the county. Wyandot was founded in 1936 as a popcorn supplier mainly to movie houses. The "plant" was a one-room school house. Now Wyandot is cashing in on the worldwide growth of snack food consumption, producing for companies as far away as Scandinavia and Israel. The plant turns out a million pounds a week of corn chips, tortilla chips, flavored popcorn and other goodies.

Wyandot works three shifts with 375 employees. Because of the area's manufacturing heritage the company has been able to find competent, mechanically-oriented workers.

"Our business is other people's business as a private label packer and co-packer for virtually every large company in the snack business," says Nick R. Chilton, president. The company produces 4,000 different labels and sizes.

Chilton ticks off Marion's advantages: "We have a light-density, low-value product. To be successful we have to be able to get the raw materials into the plant in an efficient way, and then get it back out to the user in an efficient way. Within a 500-mile radius of Marion, we can reach over 60 percent of the nation's population. Other materials are close to us as well, including the packaging film. This means we can respond very quickly to new packaging requirements. This is a low shelf-life product, and if we were not located where we are I don't think we could participate."

Also headquartered in Marion is the Ohio Corn Growers Assn., a good spot to be centered since 98 percent of Ohio's corn is grown within a 100-mile radius of Marion. The trade association has much to market: in a recent research project high school students found 4,400 items that included corn in a typical Kroger. In addition to supporting market development, the association promotes new uses for corn, such as ethanol, biodegradable packaging and corn-based lubricants.

John D. Kelly, president and CEO of Na-churs, another Marion-headquartered company, cites another Marion advantage: "We feel it's critical that three major rail lines go through Marion," says Kelly. "We can ship by rail from Marion to the West Coast cheaper than we can from our Iowa plant, even though Iowa is 500 miles closer to the West Coast. The reason is good old competition." The company makes specialty liquid plant food.

Vigortone, a division of PMA, also cites Marion's distribution advantages. The company, which makes livestock feed supplements, delivers to 15 states. "One of the reasons we're located in Marion is the transportation situation," says Dick Rassmussen. "Located in Marion, we can reach our most distant producers on the East Coast in one day."

What food processors also find in Marion is a willing work force. Says Gordon Denny, plant manager at Central Soya: "I have managed 10 plants in our company and in another company, and this is by far the best labor force I have had. Absenteeism is absent."

Central Soya, which has been in Marion 55 years, currently processes about 40 percent of the soybeans grown in Ohio into meal and oil and merchandises corn and wheat. A capital intensive industry, the company welcomed the tax abatement offered by a local government receptive to industrial expansions. It also received an economic development tariff from the power company. The company is a substantial economic generator, buying over $100 million worth of products in the Marion area.

	Meigs County		Pike County
	Mid-Ohio / Obetz and Gahanna		Mercer and Auglaize Counties
	Hardin County		Marion County
	Village of Leipsic		West Central Ohio
	Medina County		Fostoria