Agristo, a Belgium-based potato processor & Europe’s leading supplier of frozen potato products, has announced plans to build a $450 million potato processing plant in Grand Forks, in the US stated of North Dakota.
The planned facility, intended to manufacture frozen potato products such as chips (fries) and hash browns, is set to be constructed on land that was previously earmarked for a corn milling plant by the Fufeng Group.
The plant will require 45,000 more acres of potatoes to be grown, increasing the region’s current total of 120,000 acres farmed in North Dakota and Minnesota.
The construction is expected to begin by 2026 with operations starting in 2028, subject to conditions such as securing $30 million in government funding and completing a logistics arrangement with BNSF Railway.
The plant would mark one of the region’s largest food and agricultural investments, creating 300 jobs.
Source: Food Business Africa