Cavendish Farms getting major storage upgrades

The Island's major potato processor is in the middle of some major upgrades at its New Annan, P.E.I. facility.

Cavendish Farms is constructing two new buildings to store its potatoes.

According to JubsBristow, the vice-president of agriculture with Cavendish Farms, the new buildings will be able to hold 48 million pounds of potatoes.

"I think this helps ensure the plants get better quality potatoes,especially through those long storage months of July, August, and September, and so this will help the french fry plants produce better quality potatoes," Bristow said.

Bristow said the buildings under construction are meant to replace six outdated ones, which are 50 to 60 years old and poorly insulated. They also don't have refrigeration and lack airflow.

"Currently we've been using numerous older style buildings in different locations through the central part of the Island, which are now just past their use date and just no longer efficient for the volume of potatoes we're wanting to store," hesaid.

Bristow added the new storage facilitieswill use 35 per cent less fossil fuel thanthe ones they're replacing.

Cavendish Farms said itemploys about 670 people at its two processing plants in New Annan. The Island facility is a major one for the food manufacturer, accounting for the largest part of its North American production.

Bristow said the construction work is employing about 50 to 60 contract workers on site every day and theproject is expected to wrap up in October.

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