Latest news with #Agristo
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$30M incentive for large North Dakota ag facilities receives 'do-pass' recommendation from Senate committee
Mar. 21—GRAND FORKS — The $30 million incentive program for large agricultural developments in North Dakota received a unanimous "do-pass" recommendation from the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee Thursday morning. It was the first hearing for the bill following legislative crossover, when both houses of the Legislature began considering the others' session bills. The bill was designed with the proposed Agristo potato processing facility in Grand Forks in mind. The Belgian potato processor announced its $450 million plan for its first American facility earlier this year and this incentive being considered is just one of several planned. "This really is an important project for us," Grand Forks City Administrator Todd Feland said. "We don't want to let all the regional growers down since they've done so much work. ... (And) we couldn't do these projects without the state of North Dakota." The proposal being considered by the Legislature would allow Agristo to apply for an up to $30 million state grant, paid in two parts. The first half would be given when a certificate of occupancy is issued and the rest when the facility has reached 50% of production capacity. The grant works on a reimbursement model and can be used for capital expenditures, infrastructure and site acquisition. To fund the grant, the Bank of North Dakota will be able to extend a line of credit to the agriculture commissioner for grant awards from the Agricultural Diversification and Development Fund. The appropriation measure would only be valid for the biennium that ends in June 2029. The city of Grand Forks also is providing a tax incentive, allowing the company to have a reduction to its property tax bill for 20 years, if approved by the other taxing entities in Grand Forks . During the Thursday hearing, Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, asked Grand Forks Region Economic Development President and CEO Keith Lund about potential workforce shortages the Agristo development may cause. Lund said the development would attract job-seekers. "(Agristo's) report shows that it is very doable in North Dakota," Lund said. He said the state's business and tax climate is an attractant. While boosters feel the facility, if built, would be an economic asset for the region, some also said that it will bring back an agricultural crop that has lost market share in the last few decades. The project could be a great thing for all aspects of the potato industry, according to North Dakota Seed Commissioner Ken Bertsch. "The announcement of the Agristo project means that our seed potato industry will potentially benefit in the same manner as the commercial production sector," Bertsch said. "North Dakota's seed potato industry could grow 20% to 30% from today in acres produced." Bertsch estimates that the Agristo project would be a $10 million to $20 million boon for seed potato growers and even more to the state's agriculture industry and communities. "This is the most positive development in the seed potato sector in years," Bertsch said.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Potato-products group Agristo plans more India investment
Agristo Masa, a joint venture between Masa Global and frozen potato products producer Agristo, will invest additional €80m ($87.23m) in its operations in India. The venture operates a facility in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. In a statement, Belgium-based Agristo said since the facility's launch in 2022, potato yields in the region have nearly doubled from 17t per hectare (ha) to 32t per ha, marking 'one of the highest' yields in India. Kristof Wallays, Agristo's director of international expansion, innovation, and sustainability, said: 'Our collaboration with Masa Global allows us to contribute to the rapidly growing Indian agriculture and food processing sector, benefiting all stakeholders involved.' The Bijnor factory supplies customers in India and in export markets including the Middle East, South East Asia and North America. The new investment will introduce a production line for frozen potato products, an 'important step in the company's ongoing growth', Agristo said. Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele said: 'With Flemish technology, we are building the future here [India]. 'This investment not only strengthens the Indian economy but also fosters new innovations and closer cooperation with local farmers.' In January, Agristo announced plans for its production facility in the US with a site in North Dakota. The company is also expanding its production capacity in Europe to meet increasing demand. It is expanding its site in Wielsbeke in Belgium, with preparatory work underway for a new plant in Escaudoeuvres in France. "Potato-products group Agristo plans more India investment " was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mon dieu! French fall for frozen fries in frite-ning trend: ‘Young generations no longer peel much'
They're ready for this gelée. Faithful French traditionalists must be feeling salty over the latest chilling culinary change in the land of confit and coq au vin, where young anti-gourmands are said to be falling hard for frozen frites. The gauche gastronomic glow-down is part of an overall recent pivot to junk food in France — with processed potatoes rocketing so quickly in popularity, farmers are tearing out other crops and planting more spuds, The Guardian reported. 'Young generations no longer peel much,' shrugged a rep for Agristo, a frozen food manufacturer based in neighboring Belgium. According to French media, there's lately been a 25% uptick in frozen sales. And the frite-ning trend is only expected to continue, industry watchers say — according to an earlier report, the global frozen tater market will grow from $67.27 billion in 2023 to $89.51 billion by 2029. In France, the change is reportedly so pronounced, farmers are buying up territory in the northern part of the country quickly enough to double the cost of land in a handful of years. At the core of the boom is a region now known as La Vallée de la Frite — or, Valley of the Fries. The French love of fast food isn't exactly new — the country's embrace of McDonald's, or 'McDo,' has long been an open secret, leading to more outlets of the Golden Arches than any other European country. 'An appetite for the American way of life has built in France, a big appetite,' said Xavier Expilly, president and founder of French consulting firm EXPM. And well before the latest shift, home cooks across the country could be found prowling the aisles of Picard, a Trader Joe's-like supermarket chain — with a similar cult following — that deals almost exclusively in frozen foods. The nosh news comes as a handful of powerful potato processors find themselves slapped with lawsuits — alleging a conspiracy to artificially hike prices. Four companies – Lamb Weston, Canada-based McCain Foods, the J.R. Simplot Company and Cavendish Farms – currently control 97% of the market, antitrust lawsuits filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in November have alleged. Between July 2022 and July 2024, the tater titans allegedly sent the price of frozen potato products soaring 47% by colluding to raise prices, according to court documents. 'When there are only a handful of players in the market, collusion is too appetizing for these companies to pass up,' one industry watcher said. Representatives for the companies earlier said the suits were without merit. 'We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against them,' Marc Doucette, vice president of communications at Cavendish Farms, told The Post.
The Guardian
12-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Young people no longer peel much': what's behind the French frozen chip boom?
Name: Frites surgelées. I beg your pardon? Sorry, that's frozen chips to you non-French-speakers. Age: Plus de 75 ans. Stop this, and why are you speaking in French anyway? Because frozen chips are undergoing a spectacular boom in France, where farmers are so desperate to meet the demand for ice-cold potato products that they're ripping up other crops to plant even more spuds. Mon dieu! See, now you're doing it! So which uncouth country are they selling all these frozen chips to? It's going to be the UK, isn't it? Nope: it's the French themselves, who are said to have developed an insatiable appetite for the snack. But this is France! Home of bouillabaisse and boeuf bourgignon! Surely these gastronomic elites don't eat such rubbish? It seems the French are actually rather keen on la malbouffe (junk food) these days. There's been roughly a 25% rise in the French frozen chip market over recent years, according to La Voix du Nord, and they're not just munching on the stylish, slender French fry but the thick-cut British oven chip too. Scandaleux! It's apparently being driven by French youth, who can't be bothered faffing around in the kitchen. 'Young generations no longer peel much,' is how Ward Claerbout, legal and external affairs director for Belgian frozen chip giant Agristo, puts it. It's all the fault of those pesky young people again, I see. Isn't everything? But the rapid expansion is also being blamed on Dutch and Belgian farmers who, unable to buy land in their own countries, are snapping up territory in northern France. Apparently, in Chip Valley, fields worth €15,000 a hectare three years ago are now exchanging hands for almost double that. Sorry, in where? Oh yes, Chip Valley – or La Vallée de la Frite as it's become known. It's the new Silicon Valley. Only for, erm, chips. And just as lucrative? According to a report in the Times, the global market in frozen potato products is expected to grow from $7.27bn in 2023 to $89.51bn in 2029! People are going to be eating more than 12 times as many chips in six years' time?! That's not going to help the obesity crisis. Relax, the Times got their sums wrong: the actual 2023 figure is $67.27bn, so we will be eating a lot more chips, but not participating in a global edition of Man v Food. Do say: Got any McCains to go with this duck à l'orange? Don't say: Je préfère le riz.
