Kenneth W. Monfort was a pioneer in the beef industry and served as president and chief operating officer of ConAgra Red Meat Companies based in Greeley. Monfort Inc. was founded by Kenneth's father, Warren, as a cattle feeding enterprise in the 1930s. In 1960, Monfort Inc. expanded from cattle feeding into meat packing by opening a plant in Greeley. Monfort pioneered the movement of beef packing plants from urban consumer areas to the source of cattle. He was among the first to begin large-scale beef fabrication (boxed beef production) at the packing plant level. By 1968, the company was operating the world's first 100,000-head feedlot. Monfort served as the 1988 chairman of the American Meat Institute and is a former member of the Colorado Legislature, the State Board of Agriculture, the Colorado Cattle Feeders Association Board and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.