McCain Foods plans $65M expansion to meet hash brown patty demands

McCain Foods Limited will spend $65 million on a new production line atits french fry plant in Florenceville-Bristol to helpmeet the growing worldwide demand for hash brown patties,officials announced on Wednesday.

The expansion will create 40 to 50 new jobs, they said.

Construction on the 32,000-square-footexpansionis set to beginimmediately.

The new production line isexpected to be operational by late 2017 or early 2018.

McCain plans to install state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and technology for the new line to meet customer demands.

It's thelargest investmentthe company has made since 2008.

Need for more potatoes

The expansion will require an additional 1,600 hectares of potatoes. The spinoff will benefit the River Valley's agricultural economy, said Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet.

In a news release, Premier Brian Gallant said the McCain family is a New Brunswick story.

"Their business is a reminder of the entrepreneurial spirit in our province. McCain's continued success is an example of how the New Brunswick workforce can compete globally."

Strategic partnership with Resson

McCain has also become a strategic partner with Resson by investing, along with other companies, $14 million in the New Brunswick-basedcompany in a Series B investment round.

Resson, adata-driven agriculture technology company,helps large and small agriculture companies and agricultural service providers to boost productivity and profits with near real-time predictive analysis for crop management.

The funding will help Resson to expand its product development and sales and marketing efforts.

"We have worked with Resson from the earliest days of the company and have seen the tremendous potential to improve our operations by using their predictive analytics technology," said Dirk Van de Put, McCainpresident and CEO.

"We continue to work with Resson towards the implementation of their breakthrough technology and are excited by the prospects it brings to the community of potato professionals."

Resson plans to keep its head office in Fredericton and add a business office in San Jose, California.

Other investors in Resson's Series B round include Build Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, BDC Capital and East Valley Ventures.