KEY LOCAL INDUSTRY SECTORS
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Agriculture/Food Processing
While the County has a very strong dairy industry, the majority of the agricultural operations here involve the growing of vegetables as cash crops.

Portage County is Wisconsin’s leading producer of carrots, snap beans, and potatoes. Also, the state is the nation’s leading producer of oats, cranberries, beets for canning, snap beans for processing, and cabbage for sauerkraut.

Because of the type of soil and the large groundwater aquifer, vegetables grow extremely well in Central Wisconsin, and high-quality harvests are made even more likely by the sector’s ability to manage factors that impact crops. Environmentally-friendly farming practices are also stressed and continue to be developed through the relationship with the University of Wisconsin System and a variety of groundwater protection groups.

Food-processing operations with a significant employment presence here include Del Monte, Golden County Foods, Hartland Farms, McCain Foods, Okray Family Farms, Paragon Farms, and Worzalla & Sons.

Finance/Insurance
Within the Portage County economy, a sector that is very visible and still growing is finance and insurance. Sentry Insurance, Travel Guard, Inc. (a subsidiary of CHARTIS), Delta Dental, and Associated Bank are all major regional employers in this sector, which employs more than 4,000 people in the County.

Health Care
Portage County residents benefit from having excellent health care providers including: Ministry Health Care, Marshfield Clinic, and Aspirus — all major employers in Portage County. 

Their mission is to serve the community by providing exceptional care through their networks of hospitals, clinics, and care services that offer a vast array of services and programs through a dedicated workforce of thousands of employees.

They provide a continuum of care, from disease prevention programs, to technically advanced inpatient and outpatient care, to medical transportation and hospice services in communities throughout Portage County.

Manufacturing
With various sectors thriving, the manufacturing industry is experiencing continued growth in Portage County.

The area is particularly strong in the paper industry, as three paper mills call the County their home. Kimberly Clark and NewPage are the operators of the County’s paper mills and have a combined employment of approximately 1,200 people.

Worzalla Publishing exerts a strong presence in the nation’s printing and publishing industry and has a state-of-the-art printing and binding facility housed in a 300,000-square-foot plant in Stevens Point.

Several additional area firms include Joerns Healthcare, Pointe Precision, The Worth Company, and Steel King Industries.