Purdue News

June 18, 1999 Gibson County leaders to discuss Toyota plant WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- New industry brings prosperity to a farming community's front door, but it changes the neighborhood. As part of the two-day Indiana Farm Management Tour in July, Purdue University agricultural economist John Huie will moderate a panel of Gibson County leaders who can tell first-hand how a new Toyota truck plant changed their community. The discussion will start at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 6, at the Vanderburgh County 4-H Center. "When a plant comes into any area that's fairly rural, and it is by far the largest employer in the region, it has many impacts -- some positive, some negative," Huie said. "It brings housing developments, increased population, and with that an increased cost of providing services that may or may not be covered by new revenue from the homes." The panel convened by Huie will tell what new industry has meant to them and how their community has adjusted since Toyota built the $1.2 billion Gibson County facility that employs more than 2,000 people to produce Tundra trucks. The panel includes: Gibson County Attorney Jerry Stilwell, who will discuss how local government handles a sudden increase in population and income. North Gibson School Superintendent Sandy Nixon, who will describe the challenges schools face when the student population jumps. Princeton Chamber of Commerce member George Rinquist, who will tell how local business and industry compete for employees in a tight labor market. Indiana Farm Bureau field representative Tony Wolfe, who will tell how agriculture adapts to new urban neighbors. The discussion will continue at 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 7, at Ray Rexing's farm near Princeton. Rexing will describe how he and his two sons produce milk, beef, pork, corn, wheat, soybeans and forages on 1,800 acres in Vanderburgh County, just down the road from the new truck plant. After Toyota built the new plant, housing and commercial developments popped up and nearly encircled their 80-cow dairy and grain operation. The Farm Management Tour, scheduled for July 6-7, will visit five farms in Posey, Gibson and Vanderburgh counties in the southwestern corner of Indiana. The Indiana Farm Management Association and the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service sponsor the annual tour to develop management competence among farmers. Host families conduct tours of their facilities and describe their production and management practices. For more information on the Indiana Farm Management Tour, check the tour World Wide Web site or contact Howard Doster, Purdue associate professor of agricultural economics who is secretary-treasurer of the Farm Management Association, (765) 494-4250; doster@agecon.purdue.edu. Sources: John Huie, (765) 494-6829, huie@agecon.purdue.edu Howard Doster, (765) 494-4250; doster@agecon.purdue.edu Writer: Rebecca J. Goetz, (765) 494-0461; rjg@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page