A Washington-based farm equipment manufacturer has begun work on a 37,500-square foot expansion this summer.

Bazooka Farmstar, LLC., a manure injection, application, and livestock equipment manufacturer, is building an addition that will house a new paint system and expand their final assembly production space. This expansion is expected to create 30 new jobs at a qualifying wage of $20.92 per hour, and this May the company received $6 million in capital investment project tax benefits through the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s High Quality Jobs program.

Bazooka Farmstar Managing Partner Eric Hahn says the company has been planning this addition since before the pandemic, and they are excited for it now taking shape. Hahn says Washington’s hard-working, agriculture-based community has allowed the company to flourish, “The work that we do, we’re not a high-volume manufacturing facility. We’re a growing facility getting more volume but what we do is challenging at times and we need people that are willing to work through those challenges. And the area and just even this geography that we’re in is surrounded by people that want to work and want to work hard and, again, solve problems because what we do isn’t easy and day to day there are issues, and so we’re all about solving the problems together.”

The company expects to move into the new facility by the end of this year, which Hahn says will accommodate the growing size of their products and give them opportunities for better brand recognition with the new paint system. A development agreement was also made with the City of Washington to relocate a sewer line for the addition. The business agreed to a minimum assessment of $500,000 valuation for the new space. If the assessed valuation exceeds $750,000, the city will rebate the incremental taxes over that amount for up to 10 years or $200,000, whichever comes first.