Key Industries

Located in the heart of the largest agriculture and energy producing county in the state, Milliken is a prime location for these and other industries looking for a central location and easy access to major transportation networks. 

Key Industries in Weld County
Weld County's majors industries are oil and gas exploration and production, agriculture, manufacturing, renewable energy and other services.

Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector is the largest sector in Weld and includes a wealth of companies producing a wide variety of products focused primarily in food manufacturing, wood products, chemical manufacturing, plastics/rubber products, fabricated metal products, machinery manufacturing, electrical equipment/ components, transportation equipment and miscellaneous manufacturing. Key manufacturers include: JBS, Vestas Blades & Nacelles, Carestream Health, Leprino Foods, Sparton Medical Systems, PTI Group, Advanced Forming Technologies, etc. In 2013, this sector employed 11,471 – 12.7% of total Weld employment and had an average earnings/job of $42,982. Total 2012 employee earnings was $660.2 million – 16.8% of total Weld employee earnings. Total 2012 Gross Regional Product (GRP) for the sector was $1.094 billion – 14% of total Weld GRP.

Oil and Natural Gas Industries
Shale oil mining production in 2013 had an estimated valued at $3.9 million from the 20,000+ oil/gas wells throughout Weld – the highest producing County in the state. Located in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, the Niobrara formation is part of the Wattenburg field and has a 40+ year proven track record. The Niobrara – 7,000 feet down, is the most productive so far due to new horizontal drilling technology coupled with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing – fracking. In addition, Weld is home to two 300+ mega-watt wind farms operating with 125+ turbines each on over 60,000 acres of land in Northern Weld. In 2013, the sector employed 6,048 – 6.7% of all Weld employment and had an average earnings/job of $77,438. Total 2012 employee earnings was $527.1 million – 13.4% of total Weld employee earnings. Total 2012 sector GRP was $843.2 million – 10% of total Weld GRP.

Agriculture
Weld County is an agriculture empire with 1.9 million acres devoted to farming and raising livestock. With total market value of ag products sold at $1.86 billion; Weld ranked 1st in Colorado and 9th in the nation in the most recent 2012 US Census of Agriculture. Weld continues to be the only county outside of California to consistently rank in the top ten. The bulk - $1.4 billion of market value came from livestock sales. Weld is home to two of the largest cattle feeding operations in the nation and ranks 1st in sheep/lamb production. About half of the dairy cows in the state are also located in Weld. Cattle ranching, goat, hog, poultry and equine operations abound and key crops include: hay, wheat, corn, nursery stock, sunflowers, dry beans, onions and carrots. The impact of agriculture extends from the traditional farm production of commodities to large agribusiness/food manufacturing operations processing value-added consumer goods exported all over the world. In 2013, the sector employed 3,521 – 3.9% of total Weld employment and had an average earnings/job of $34,528. Total 2012 employee earnings was $37.3 million – .09% of total Weld employee earnings. Total sector 2012 GRP was $366.9 million – 5% of total Weld GRP.

Renewable Energy
Weld County is now emerging as a leader in the renewable energy production and technology. Wind power is a new large sector in the economy of the county. There are three large wind farms that have been developed recently, the Ponnequin Wind Farm with 44 wind turbines, Cedar Creek 1 Wind Farm, 10 miles east of Grover, Colorado, has 274 Wind Turbines and Cedar Creek 2 Wind Farm is a recent addition and has an additional 63 wind turbines. Along with wind power, Weld County has a 40 million gallon dry mill ethanol plant in Windsor. Ethanol is made from corn grain and is currently used as an additive to gasoline. It burns much more cleanly than traditional fossil-fuel gasoline and the source is renewable.

Business Services Sector (Company Management, Administrative/Back Office Support) 
Offering a central US location with easy access to Denver International Airport, a skilled labor force and exceptional quality of life, Weld is home to several large corporate/regional headquarters, business service centers and customer/administrative support operations. While the JBS North American Corporate HQ is the largest single employer in this sector other important players include State Farm Insurance Regional Operations Center, Animal Health Inter-national, Banner Health Corporate Center, Hensel Phelps Corporate HQ, Xerox, TeleTech, StarTek, Afni, etc.. In 2013, these two sectors together employed 6,843 – 7.5% of total Weld employment. The Company Management Sector had an average earnings/job of $111,587 and Administrative/ Business Services was $30,649. Together, total 2012 employee earnings was $385.6 million – 9.8% of total Weld employee earnings. Combined sectors total 2012 GRP was $461.2 million - 6 % of total Weld GRP.

For a list of the largest employers in Weld County go to http://www.upstatecolorado.org/welddata/employers-page.php 

Source:  Upstate Colorado