The Alberta government is investing $10 million to expand its food-processing and business-development facility.
The government said the investment will be used to increase the capacity at Agriculture and Forestry’s Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator and Food Processing Development Centre in Leduc by adding 2,350 square metres of business incubation and development space.
“Our agri-food entrepreneurs employ tens of thousands of Alberta workers and every year the Food Processing Development Centre helps as many as 100 new and existing businesses grow and succeed,” Minister of Economic Development and Trade Deron Bilous said.
“Expanding this facility means more jobs and a more diversified economy that builds on our strengths. This is the Alberta Jobs Plan in action.”
The facility provides equipment and services to help companies develop their products, test their business plans and grow their business.
“The food-processing centre in Leduc has supported our company in its development and helped create the climate for our success,” Siwin Foods president Qiang Lin said.
“We have now built a new 3,250 square metre facility in Edmonton, employ 47 people and ship our Alberta-grown and made products across Canada and recently listed with a major retailer in Japan.”
According to the Alberta government, the province’s food and beverage industries employ about 25,500 people with sales of more than $13 billion, making it Alberta’s second-largest manufacturing sector.