J.R. Simplot’s expansion will create in 87 full-time jobs in the province
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
An American potato processor announced a multimillion dollar expansion of its Portage la Prairie, Man. plant yesterday.
J.R. Simplot, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, unveiled its plan for a $460-million investment into its Manitoba facility.
The development will expand the current location from 180,000 square feet to 460,000 square feet, and create 87 full-time jobs. Manitoba potato growers will need to increase annual production by 18,000 annually to meet the increased demand.
The investment is an indicator that J.R. Simplot believes Manitoba’s potato growers can meet the needs of a demanding market, said Dan Sawatzky, manager of the Keystone Potato Growers Association.
“It’s certainly exciting news for our province and for our potato growers,” he told Farms.com today. “The investment shows the confidence that J.R. Simplot has put into this area and (shows) that our producers do a good job growing high-quality potatoes.”
And the province’s potato industry is booming on limited amounts of land.
Only 77 potato farms existed in Manitoba in 2016, according to Statistics Canada.
While P.E.I. growers harvested more than 1.16 million tonnes of potatoes in 2016, Manitoba farmers harvested 1.01 million tonnes of the crop in 2016 – good for the second largest harvest in the country.
“We’ve seen crop yields increase over the last number of years,” Sawatzky said. “J.R. Simplot has taken note of that (yield increase) and this investment gives growers the opportunity to work with the processor in a partnership capacity to meet the consumption demand for frozen potato products.”
And scientists are giving potato growers the tools to meet consumer and processor demands.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers introduced potato growers to 15 new varieties yesterday via video conference.
The varieties included five French fry potatoes, two for use in the potato chip sector, six for fresh markets and two with coloured flesh.
And one of these variety could replace the Russet Burbank, which accounts for about 70 per cent of potato sales to North American processors.
Farmers can grow the new variety in many different conditions and produce a higher yield because of its resistance to soil fungus.
“Our goal is to have the same quality, but in (a) much more improved variety that has less defect, stores well and tastes well as well,” Benoît Bizimungu, an AAFC potato breeder, told Global News yesterday.