A Spanish livestock company’s plan to build a $100 million hog operation in southwestern Manitoba is not a done deal.
VALL Corporation, one of Europe’s largest pork producers, was considering expanding its business into this corner of the province but that is now held up, an official told a Brandon newspaper.
Ken Carter, who runs the company’s American operations from Texhoma, Oklahoma, said plans to start building this spring have been delayed for a year. He was out of the country last week and could not be reached for comment.
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Roy Arnott, a local agricultural representative with Manitoba Agriculture, said the company felt it shouldn’t rush into the venture.
“I think they decided ‘let’s make sure’ and get to know the provincial and Canadian system, labor rates and industry guidelines before starting a business there,” Arnott said.
Carter said the company is also considering sites in Kentucky and Louisiana.
There has been vocal opposition to the proposal, but it isn’t clear if that’s what prompted VALL to reschedule.
Officials with Manitoba Agriculture toured company representatives around the southwest this fall to check out potential sites for a proposal that could inject $100 million into the region.
The plan includes a feed mill and 24,000 sows split into five farrowing barns that would run along the highway between Killarney and Deloraine. From the farrowing barns, pigs would be transferred to nursery barns and then feeder operations, which would be owned and operated by local farmers under contract with VALL.
