Cavendish Farms has announced plans to spend at least $350 million on a new frozen potato processing facility in Lethbridge.
Robert K. Irving, co-CEO of J.D. Irving Limited and president of Cavendish Farms, was in southern Alberta to make the announcement alongside Ag Minister Oneil Carlier, local MLAs Shannon Phillips and Maria Fitzpatrick, and Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman on Monday.
“Cavendish Farms is pleased to be expanding our business in Lethbridge and we are proud of the relationship we have built with the city, the provincial government and the people who make up this community,” said Irving.
It’s the largest single investment in the city’s history, noted Spearman.
Cavendish currently operates a 142,000 sq. ft. plant in Lethbridge, which was acquired from Maple Leaf Foods in 2012. The new facility will be located in an expansion of the city’s Sherring Industrial Park.
The new capacity is expected to create demand for another 9,000 acres of potatoes in the region.
Cavendish also operates two potato processing facilities in PEI and one in Jamestown, North Dakota.