Cavendish Farms announced Monday afternoon the company will be building a new frozen potato processing plant in Lethbridge.
At a total cost of $350 million, it will be the largest development ever made in the city.
“To have a world-class facility in terms of manufacturing, you have to have scale, you have to have size…” president Robert Irving said. “This plant…allows us to do that because we have to compete not just locally, but we have to compete around the world.”
City council, which had purchased 116 hectares of land in the Sherring Business Industrial Park, voted unanimously on Monday to sell over 116 hectares of that land to Cavendish Farms for $7.79 million.
“We need to make sure that there’s water services and waste water services provided to the site when the building opens up,” Mayor Chris Spearman said.
The city is contributing an additional $41.5 million, $15 million of which will be borrowed from the province and put towards areas including infrastructure and irrigation adjustments.
The mayor said the Sherring Industrial land expansion will not only open the doors for Cavendish Farms, but to other industries in the city.
“Our diversified economy in the city of Lethbridge is going to benefit significantly; it’s a tremendous investment,” he said.
The new plant will be replacing Cavendish Farms’ current plant, which is located at the industrial park.
Irving said the company will almost triple potato production, outputting 415 million pounds of potatoes, compared to the current 160 million pounds per year.
Construction on the new plant will begin in spring 2017 and is expected to be complete by summer 2019.
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