Dairy co-op Agropur’s plans to serve the Centre-du-Quebec milk market have been scrapped, as it plans to permanently close a dairy business it bought just last year.
The Laitiere Lamothe dairy plant at Drummondville, which had operated since 1913 and was bought by Agropur in March 2008 for an undisclosed sum, will close its doors Nov. 20, putting 41 employees out of work, Agropur said Monday.
“The decision to cease all dairy processing activities in this plant is strictly based on economic concerns,” Serge Paquette, president of Agropur’s Natrel division, said in a release.
Read Also
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures down, hogs rise
Live and feeder cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange showed small losses on Thursday, while lean hog futures made…
“In order to remain competitive, Agropur must ensure that all of its operations are profitable and efficient.”
Agropur last year had planned to flow the Lamothe operations into the Natrel division, which markets fluid milk and “value-added” dairy products.
Laiterie Lamothe’s products had included fluid milk, flavoured milk, omega-3 enriched milk and organic milk. Agropur said last year it planned to incorporate Lamothe’s organic milk into the Natrel line to serve a market segment where Agropur wasn’t yet active, in a region where “our presence is less felt.”
Agropur emphasized Monday that it had wanted to keep the Lamothe plant operating, but said “numerous forces beyond (Agropur’s) control have resulted in the decision to close it.”
Agropur said “significant investments would have been required” for the Lamothe facility to continue operating.
The co-op added that it would work with union reps to implement a support program for employees affected by the closure.
Employees from the Drummondville plant would be considered for positions that may become available at other Agropur facilities, the co-op said.
Laitiere Lamothe was one of several operations Agropur bought or bought into while in expansion mode last year. The co-op’s 2008 investments also included Wisconsin cheesemaker Trega Foods, Minnesota dairy firm Schroeder Milk and part of a new joint venture, La Lacteo, with food firm Adecoagro in Argentina.
