INVESTMENTS | PAST INVESTMENTS
Summit Agricultural Group’s team has a ROBUST investment history including successful endeavors in Agricultural production, biofuels and wind energy. The highly specialized knowledge gained through the completion of these projects continues to serve our investors today as we broaden our horizons to new markets, new partnerships and new areas of expertise.
Founded: 1994 Exit: 2004
Heartland Pork grew out of three separate businesses – feed management, building construction and swine production – into one business enterprise. Heartland grew to become the thirteenth largest pork producer in the United States. In 2004 the company was acquired by Christensen Farms while producing 1.2 million pigs annually. The resulting company became the fourth largest pork producer in the United States.
Founded: 2003 Exit: 2006 (Majority)
Hawkeye Renewables, LLC was developed in 2003 as the builder and controlling company of two ethanol plants located in Iowa Falls and Fairbank, Iowa. With Bruce Rastetter serving as CEO, Hawkeye Renewables grew to become the second largest pure-play ethanol producer. The plants are currently operated as a division of Flint Hills Resources.
Founded: 2004 Exit: 2007
Iowa Winds began in 2004 as a wind farm development and management company operating primarily in Franklin County, Iowa. The project was one of the state’s first and largest windfarms, having an output capacity of 300 megawatts. Iowa Winds was purchased in 2007 by Alliant Energy as a turnkey development project and has since been renamed the Whispering Willows Wind Farm.
Founded: 2011 Exit: 2014 (Majority)
Beginning in 2011, Summit and a group of investors set out to reopen a beef processing facility that had been shuttered for years in Tama, Iowa. The plant reopened in 2013 and a year later, Sysco was brought on as a partner in the venture. Now, more than 800 employees make up Iowa Premium Beef, and cattle have been purchased from more than 1,400 farm families in Iowa and neighboring states. In 2019, Iowa Premium Beef was sold to National Beef and is now a wholly owned subsidiary.