As our agriculture base suggests, Cedar Rapids is home to a number of the world's most prominent agribusiness and food processing industries. Quaker Oats has the world's largest cereal manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids. In the 1960s, General Mills made a strategic move to the area. Penford Products, ADM Corn Processing, and Cargill all have key positions in our ag-based economy. In the early 1990s, through a partnership between Eastman Kodak and Cultor Limited of Finland, Cedar Rapids is now home to a new company: Genencor International. Their "bioproducts" plant illustrates a good marriage between high technology and agribusiness. Since it began production in 1991, Genencor has become an $85 million company, employing approximately 100 people who manage the production of pharmaceuticals, nutritional products, industrial enzymes, and other chemicals. Manufacturers routinely use its products to make common household items such as laundry detergents and soft drinks.

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