MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Prestage Farms is pressing forward with plans to build a hog processing plant somewhere in Iowa, now that Mason City has said no. The City Council rejected an agreement Wednesday with Prestage to build a $240 million plant that the company says would have employed around 1,800 people.

Prestage spokeswoman Summer Lanier says the company is considering other Iowa locations but wouldn’t name them. Officials in Fort Dodge and Webster City both had been in talks with Prestage before the company chose Mason City. Fort Dodge officials say the city couldn’t afford the incentives Prestage wanted. Webster City Mayor John Hawkins says city officials will be reaching out for Prestage’s reconsideration.

Mason City residents who opposed the plant raised environmental issues and expressed concern about possible harm to property values.