MALDEN FIRM TO ROLL OUT FIRST PLANE

MALDEN -- Ag Cat Corp. is rolling out its first newly manufactured Ag Cat aircraft today at its facility in Malden Industrial park.

James Krepps, president of the company, will fly the 600-horsepower G164B biplane during a special open house ceremony from 1 and 3 p.m. at the industrial park.

Ag Cat Corp., a company which manufactures new agricultural aircraft and sells parts for existing craft, currently employs 20 persons with projections of 50 employees by this time next year and 100 within three years.

Ag Cat Corp. is new to the Malden area, but the company has been around for more than 30 years. As many as 3,000 Ag Cats are in the air.

Krepps of Malden has been involved in the aircraft business since Ag Cat was founded in the late 1950s. He was employed as a specialist with the Ag CAt Corp. in Germany for more than 13 years.

He purchased the company from Schweizer Aircraft Corp. of Elmira, N.Y., in March of this year, moving the operation to Malden.

The Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University has been working with Krepps on the Ag Cat project over the past three years.

The SBDC has been instrumental in obtaining the financing for the $3.7 million necessary for Krepps to purchase the Ag Cat Corp., said Buz Sutherland, SBDC director.

Financing was made possible through First Community Bank-Malden, Rural Economic and Community Development (formerly Farmers Home Administration), the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission.