Natural support animal products will be produced and packaged in one facility
Cargill has expanded its Diamond V production facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, moving all production and packaging of its natural support products to one facility.
Production is scheduled to begin March 2 at the US$29.1 million, 100,000-square-foot expansion of the south plant production facility in Cedar Rapids. Production at the north plant will stop and all employees will be transferred to the newly expanded facility.
The expansion does not create new jobs immediately, a company spokesperson said, “but it will allow future growth as we strive to support customer needs.”
The new facility will absorb the production capacity from the north plant and add approximately 6-7% to the south plant’s capacity.
“The expansion immediately adds two production lines and is large enough to house up to eight production lines as the business grows to meet rising consumer and customer demand,” the company said in a press release.
The spokesperson added that the building was constructed with future growth in mind.
“Required infrastructure was incorporated in the design to expedite build-out of the entire facility as the need arises,” the company said in an email. “The new building will eventually house equipment to nearly double our current capabilities over the coming years.”
The new facility will produce Diamond V Original XPC, NutriTek, NaturSafe and XPC Ultra products for various species.
“Diamond V has always been committed to offering products that support healthy animals, more efficient animal production, better pre-harvest food safety, stronger antibiotic stewardship, and improved public health,” said Mike Goble, Cargill’s global managing director for Diamond V, in a press release. “The demand for natural animal health products is growing, and this expansion will allow us to support our customers.”
Cargill acquired Diamond V in 2018. In September 2019, the company announced it would reorganize its animal nutrition business and create a new business unit focused on animal and human health products. Cargill said its new Animal Nutrition and Health group will consist of three units: Cargill Animal Nutrition, combining its existing feed, nutrition and pre-mix businesses; the existing Cargill Aqua Nutrition; and the new Cargill Health Technologies, which will focus on digestive health in immunology for animals and incorporate relatively new acquisitions Delacon and Diamond V.
