Boom Times In Sioux County, Iowa

The Des Moines Register is doing a feature article series on the Northwestern Iowa's Sioux County, the site of at least one $20,000 an acre farmland sale.  Here are some quotes from the Dutch Reformed version of German Catholic southern Mercer County, Ohio:

Animal eugenics capital of the world. “We’re way more efficient with this process than Mother Nature,” said Dave Faber, founder of Trans Ova, as we watched a machine sort bull sperm by gender, 37,000 sperms per second.
Ain’t Dutch, ain’t much. “I don’t necessarily buy that ethnic, religious theory,” said Kent Pruismann, a hog and cattle farmer south of Rock Valley, in response to the idea that Sioux County might be prosperous in part because of the Dutch Reformed influence.
Smells like money. “Most often it’s pretty tolerable,” said Paul Klausing, the city manager of Sioux Center, on the smell of manure. “You realize that’s what’s going on here.”
Missing out. “I’ve never seen such rude people,” said Kent Pruismann, on when the Cattlemen’s Association tried unsuccessfully to site a packing plant in Central Iowa. He argues NW Iowa has an appreciation for the livestock industry that’s not shared in much of the rest of the state.
Bull market. “They told me that if I don’t make up my mind in January, I won’t be able to get any concrete,” said Phil Kooima, owner of $50 million-in-sales-a-year Kooima Company, on his plans for a new parking lot and the demand for Redi-Mix around Rock Valley.
Contact hitting. “We need base hits, not home runs, in rural Iowa,” said Wade Gort, president of Premier Bank in Rock Valley, on state gov’ts plans for thousands of acres of shovel-ready land for big companies to relocate on.
Cultural mandate. “We’re called not only to preserve Creation, but to develop Creation,” Dordt College President Carl Zylstra, on the Reformed Christian philosophy of business and entrepreneurialism. The chair of the board of supervisors, mayor of Sioux Center, city manager, Kooima, State Senator Randy Feenstra, founder of Ozone Solutions, president of First National Bank, and countless others are Dordt grads.

While such areas are interesting, the insularity is stupefying. Given my druthers, I'd pick the Catholics, because they are a lot more fun than the Dutch Reformed.

One thing I'll agree with from these quotes is the concept that shovel-ready sites are a waste of government money.  It just isn't that hard to build utilities and roads to accomodate businesses if they want to locate a warehouse or factory somewhere.  There is no need to build the infrastructure ahead of time.  In my previous life, we developed an industrial park for a municipality to try to lure businesses.  They managed to lure a large warehouse, but we had to tear out the street, abandon the utilities and build new because our conception of the potential layout didn't match their site needs.  It was an amazing waste of money.