Cavendish Farms invests record breaking $350-million for Lethbridge plant expansion
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LETHBRIDGE – A new Cavendish Farms frozen potato processing plant will go down as the largest development in Lethbridge’s history to-date.
The $350-million facility will replace the one that currently operates in the city’s industrial park. Robert Irving, Cavendish Farms President, says it will improve efficiency, more than double production capacity, reduce the company’s carbon footprint and create a number of jobs.
Council sold the company 116.22-hectares of land in the Sherring Business and Industrial Park at a purchase price of $7.79-million on Monday (Dec. 12). They also agreed to borrow up to $15.3-million over the next 15 years to fund the total $41.5-million expansion.
“We decided that based on our experience here with the great quality potatoes we’ve been able to purchase over the years, as well as the workforce here that going forward this would be the ideal location to continue to expand and grow,” Irving said.
Mayor Chris Spearman noted that this plant is $100-million more than the Destination Project at the University of Lethbridge, and $200-million more than the ATB Leisure Centre.
“It’s wonderful to see that kind of investment. We will be continuing to seek investment and employment for young people who graduate from our college and university,” he enthused.
“More and more I hear young people say they want to stay in Lethbridge, and we have to give them the job opportunities to do that. “
The current Cavendish Farms plant employs roughly 170 people and plans to grow that number in the new facility. Irving also explained that more production capacity will increase demand on local potato growers by an estimated 9,700-acres.
He says output will jump from 160-million pounds of frozen products per year to around 415-million pounds.
Construction on the new plant is expected to begin this coming spring, and should be complete by summer 2019.
