Nova Scotia’s provincial government plans to invest $3.5 million in working capital for the province’s sole major poultry processing plant.
ACA Co-operative of New Minas, just east of Kentville, will be able to maintain its payroll of 650 employees and a like number of spin-off jobs, the province said in a release Friday.
“This sole poultry processor for Nova Scotia has grown significantly over the years and continues to seek and develop new markets for its quality products,” said Economic Development Minster Angus MacIsaac.
The co-op since 1943 has expanded to include egg, feed, hatchery, poultry, retail farm equipment and processing divisions, the province said. Its annual sales are over $110 million.
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ACA operates a processing poultry meat operation, breeder barns for producing selected genetic broiler chicken crosses, chick hatchery, feed mill, table egg division and grading facility, a retail division for farm furnace and diesel fuel, a farm equipment division and an outlet store, the province said.
“Along with chicken, it processes nearly all of the turkeys available in Nova Scotia and 25 per cent of our eggs, offering people the opportunity to buy local food products,” said acting Agriculture Minister Ron Chisholm.
The company’s major customers include Sobeys, Co-op Atlantic, Sysco Food Service and commodity markets in Ontario and Quebec.
The province’s loan will flow through the economic development department’s Industrial Expansion Fund.
