Staff of a Denver-area organization supposedly brokering a deal to set up an organic potato processing facility in Center were reluctant to release information locally about the proposal but told residents of Grand Forks, North Dakota, they might have jobs for some of the Grand Forks residents who will be out of work in March when RDO Foods closes its dehydrated potato processing plant there.
Ravi Malhotra, executive director of iCAST (International Center for Appropriate &Sustainable Technology), said on Friday he did not want to talk about the proposal because it was still in negotiations.
Erik Keizer, project manager in business development for iCAST, told the Grand Forks Herald newspaper in Grand Forks, N.D., that iCAST was working with a group of investors, Colorado Potato Ventures Inc., which would own and operate an as-yet-unnamed new organic potato processing facility in an existing plant in Center that was built in 1998 but is not currently operating.
Colorado Potato Ventures Inc. had not been registered as a Colorado corporation with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office as of Friday.
Keizer told the North Dakota newspaper the plant would produce fresh, organic, blanched or refrigerated products such as mashed or scalloped potatoes.
He said the plant would rely on the Valley’s two dozen organic farms for produce.
Keizer also stated that the company was looking for 12-36 people with management experience to work either in the Valley or at the company’s Denver headquarters and said some of the people who would be out of work in Grand Forks might be a good fit for the new plant in the San Luis Valley. Keizer told the Grand Forks Herald hiring for management positions could begin by April 1 and production line workers could be hired this summer.
Colorado Potato Ventures Inc. had not been registered as a Colorado corporation with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office as of Friday.
Keizer told the North Dakota newspaper the plant would produce fresh, organic, blanched or refrigerated products such as mashed or scalloped potatoes.
He said the plant would rely on the Valley’s two dozen organic farms for produce.
Keizer also stated that the company was looking for 12-36 people with management experience to work either in the Valley or at the company’s Denver headquarters and said some of the people who would be out of work in Grand Forks might be a good fit for the new plant in the San Luis Valley. Keizer told the Grand Forks Herald hiring for management positions could begin by April 1 and production line workers could be hired this summer.
