The Good Farmer

In March this year, Eggert bought an abandoned sawmill in Hines, which first opened in 1930. In the 1960s, it was one of the largest pine mills in the world, yielding more than 134 million board-feet of lumber. Like many sawmills, it shut down several years ago as the timber sector went into decline.

Eggert, who owns 6,300 nearby acres of alfalfa, has led a conversion of the 220,000-square-foot facility so that it can process alfalfa into pellets to feed his own livestock under the Silver Sage Farms brand. Local alfalfa farmers will also be able to sell their products to the business. When fully operational, it will employ 18 people.