A new facility will bring about 100 jobs to the community
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A vegetable processor has chosen southwestern Ontario as the location for its new expansion project.
Yesterday, Quebec-based Whyte’s Foods, which sells pickles under the Strub’s brand, announced plans for a new $16.5-million plant in Wallaceburg, Ont. The plant will be located inside a 150,000 square-foot building at 6800 Baseline Rd.
The facility will bring about 100 jobs to the community. The employees will produce pickles, peppers and relish once the plant opens next fall.
“We won’t fail (the community),” Elisabeth Kawaja, president of Whyte’s Foods, said yesterday during the announcement, Chatham This Week reported. “We are as excited as you about this investment.”
Chatham-Kent has an “amazingly robust” agricultural presence, she added.
The announcement is good news for the entire ag industry but cucumber producers, in particular, should be pleased, said Suzanne van Bommel, a cash crop producer and chair of the Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers.
“This is tremendous news for Ontario’s agricultural industry,” she told Farms.com today. “A company like Whyte’s Foods can choose to locate wherever it wants but it chose southwestern Ontario. I think it’s because (Whyte’s Food) knows we grow the best cucumbers in the world.
“What a great announcement for cucumber producers to have a partner like Whyte’s so close to home.”
The expansion is estimated to bring an additional 7,000 tons of fresh Ontario cucumbers and 500 tons of local peppers to Canadian customers.
“This is a major boost,” Randy Hope, Chatham-Kent Mayor, told CBC yesterday. “When they talk about the amount of production they’re looking for (from farmers’) fields, this is a major boost to our crop rotation.”
The company is also investing $1.5 million into improvements at its Ste-Rose, Que. location.
Stefanie Masotti/CTV Windsor photo