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June 23, 2016

$50M McCain Foods expansion could boost Aroostook potato stock

The largest buyer of potatoes in Aroostook County, McCain Foods, is planning a 32,000-square-foot expansion at its Florenceville-Bristol french fry plant in New Brunswick. The expansion, which is spurred by high demand for hash browns and specialty products, could be a major win for potato growers just across the border in Maine’s northernmost county.

The Bangor Daily News reports that McCain’s $50 million expansion, which is set to start by 2018, will add up to 50 new jobs to the factory and increase the demand for potatoes.

“We are probably going to need an additional 4,000 acres of potatoes or more to feed the new production line,” Dale McCarthy, McCain’s vice president of integrated supply chain in North America, said in a statement, according to the BDN. “We will obviously buy all that we can locally, but we may have to even reach across borders to meet our needs.”

McCain, the world’s largest french fry maker, according to the BDN, is also one of the largest employers in Aroostook County, with more than 500 workers at its plant in Easton.

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