Dayton Meat Products recognized with the 2021 Ag Business of the Year Award

​   Bill Dayton, center, with Dayton Meat Products in Malcom is joined by his sons, Josh, right, and Jake, left, after the father and son team and local business received the Grinnell Lions Ag Appreciation Day Agri-Business of the Year Award on Thursday, Aug. 26. “This is bigger than anything else I have won,” said Bill Dayton. “Thank you for the recognition. It is a great honor.”

​    Dayton Meat Products of Malcom has provided a valued service to Poweshiek County and beyond for more than three generations.
“As we celebrate agri-business, their work improves the quality of life for both rural areas and community living,” noted a Grinnell Lions Club representative. “Dayton Meat Products is a great example of how caring and competent businesses support successful farming.”
What we know as Dayton Meat Products today began more than 60 years ago, established by Lawrence Dayton. Through the years, Lawrence's wife, Edith, and all five of their children worked at the locker, cutting and wrapping meat and waiting on customers. Ownership of the business has included partnerships with three generations of the Daytons. Currently, Dayton Meat Products is owned in partnership by Bill Dayton and his sons, Josh and Jake Dayton.
Dayton Meat Products has a large service area, providing slaughter and processing of locally raised beef and pork as well as wild game.  In addition, they produce at least 75 different smoked meats and sausages. In 2020, they processed 150,000 pounds of smoked meats, including hams, bacons, sausage sticks, jerkies along with venison and wild game. Custom slaughtering of animals remains a large part of their business, with bookings into 2023.
The business has won numerous awards. The business won Grand Champion Ring Bologna in 1979. Since then, Dayton Meat Products has won more than 200 awards, many of which adorn the business’ walls, for meat products in many venues including the Iowa Meat Processors convention, the Iowa State Fair, and in international competition. In 2012, Bill Dayton was honored for Lifetime Achievement by the Iowa Meat Processors Association, and in 2015, he was induced into the American Association of Meat Processors Cured Meat Hall of Fame.
“This is bigger than anything else I have won,” said Bill Dayton. “Thank you for the recognition. It is a great honor.”
Please congratulate them on their continued service to farmers and communities in Poweshiek County and beyond.