GRAND FORKS — City leaders are hopeful a $450 million potato processing plant will soon take root in north Grand Forks, in what’s being called one of the largest agriculture projects in the region’s history.
Although Belgium-based Agristo has not yet purchased the land, many expect the company to build the facility on a site currently owned by Fufeng. The land became available after Fufeng’s plans for a corn milling plant fell through.
The project would create approximately 300 jobs and produce frozen potato products commonly found in grocery stores.
“These potatoes will go to a factory and they’ll be making French fries out of them or hash browns out of them,” said Gary Shields of the Northland Potato Growers Association.
Currently, about 120,000 acres across a 15-county region in North Dakota and Minnesota are dedicated to potato farming. If the plant is built, an additional 45,000 acres would be needed to meet demand.
“This is probably one of the most exciting things that’s happened in our agricultural business in potatoes in a long, long time,” Shields said.
Mayor Brandon Bochenski and other city leaders recently returned from a visit to Agristo’s headquarters in Belgium, where they toured two of the company’s plants. Half of Agristo’s current product is shipped to the United States.
“It might be more expensive to build out the project, but I think the benefit of being closer to their markets and not paying tariffs will far outweigh that,” Bochenski said.
Originally destined for Wisconsin, the project shifted to North Dakota after local growers successfully courted the family owned company to the Red River Valley. Despite the higher costs, Bochenski hopes to have a development agreement in place within weeks. The project hinges on $30 million in state funding and a shipping agreement with BNSF Railway.
Bochenski believes the project is highly likely to move forward.
“It blew me away how clean it was. You could eat off the floors in this whole plant, it didn’t have any smells,” Bochenski said of Agristo’s Belgium facility. “The front entrance of this plant was 50 feet from a housing development so the way it had integrated itself with the community and an integral part of the community was amazing.”
If all goes as planned, Agristo could break ground next year and have the plant operational by 2028.
Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.
