Educated Analysis: Why does Lower Foods Own So Much Land?

 

1,100 acres, that is how much land the Lower family owns. The Lower family started their business in 1927 three generations ago in a small building in Smithfield on just an acre parcel. They didn't plan on making a multi-million dollar company, but here they are today. But why does a company like them need so much land? 

In March 2023, I had the opportunity to interview CEO Alan Lower and his son Lee. The purpose of the interview was to add the company's history to my website, but the topic of why they own so much land came up.

There are two main purposes on why they own 1,100 acres: farm conservation and business growth.

Farm Conservation

Between 2017 and 2022, the USDA Census of Agriculture reported that nearly 20 million acres of farmland was lost.1

Alan Lower said during our interview, "We bought a lot of farm ground, and the farm ground was from the original families. We promised to take care of it."

Around 95% of all the land that Lower's owns is farmland, most of which is located on the south and southwest side of Richmond. This land is protected by the Lower family so the farmers still have the land available to raise their animals and developers don't come by and start making subdivisions.

The Lower family knows where their meat comes from—the farmers—and if the farmers don't have any land to feed their animals, they start closing their farms. By purchasing the land, the Lower family pays the property tax and allows the farmers to continue their work.

So, while the north and northeast side of Richmond continues to grow and people complain that "Richmond is getting too big" and "all the farmland is going away," rest assured the south side of Richmond looks like it has for the last 20 years.

Business Growth

But what about the other 5% of the land? Well, that is for the growth of the company.

During our interview, Alan explained that when they were expanding their Smithfield location in the 1980's, they would become landlocked. A street went around their property so they only had so much land they could expand to.

After Alan's grandpa, Russell Lower died and his wife would not allow the business to expand in Smithfield, they had to look toward Richmond to expand. Each year came new customers and companies, which led to more expansion.

My great-grandparents, Calvin and Carol Funk, owned the land that is exactly south of their main building. After their deaths, the land was sold to the Lower family to ensure, as Alan says, "We don't ever want to be landlocked."

1. "U.S. lost 142,000 farms according to ag census"www.farmprogress.com. Retrieved June 6, 2024.