DUBLIN – Southwest Virginians are used to workers coming north from Mexico for jobs in farm and nursery fields, but on Friday a major Mexican employer announced it would invest more than $30 million and hire more than 200 people in Pulaski County.

Over the next five years, Red Sun Farms, a subsidiary of a Mexican-based Agrícola El Rosal will build a 50-acre hydroponic vegetable production facility in Dublin’s New River Valley Commerce Park and hire the total amount of jobs, said Chief Operating Officer Carlos Visconti. It will be the first tenant in the 1,000-acre park.

The company already produces nearly 200 million pounds of organic vegetables a year in Mexico and Canada, making it one of the largest such producers in North America.

The company already has distribution centers in the U.S., including Texas and Georgia. But the Dublin greenhouse operation will be its first U.S. production facility. The move fulfills the company’s long-term vision of producing products in all three North American Free Trade countries, Visconti said.

It also allows the company to “bring our farms closer to our customers,” he said.

The Dublin operation is expected to provide produce to grocery stores and restaurants across Virginia and in surrounding states.

It took more than two years of negotiations and about $800,000 in state and local grants and incentives to finalize the deal. Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office arranged for $450,000 in state business and agriculture grants, while Pulaski County will match $350,000 of that money, said Suzanne West of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

“It’s a green project. It’s an organic project, and it’s high technology,” partnership President Martin Briley said.

The announcement was made Friday afternoon at New River Community College in Dublin, near the commerce park, where enrollments have grown and curriculums have modernized to serve workers displaced by the collapse of manufacturing and the economic recession.

In his remarks about Red Sun Farms, McDonnell stressed the importance of Virginia’s $2.6 billion in agriculture and forestal exports to the state’s economy. Over the past week, McDonnell has announced the opening or expansion of three food and beverage related companies across the state, including Red Sun Farms. The total investment is about $176 million and comes with the promise of up to 265 total jobs, McDonnell said.

The majority of those jobs are expected to come from Red Sun Farms, and will include administrators, plant managers and technicians to staff the Dublin greenhouse facility.

“It’s been an exciting week,” McDonnell said.

According to a company news release, Red Sun Farms was founded in 2001 as part of family-owned agro-industrial group Agrícola El Rosal S.A. de C.V., based in Michoacán, Mexico. The Red Sun brand is owned and marketed by JemD Farms, the only Mexican- and Canadian-owned greenhouse company in North America. Golden Sun, a sister company, produces tomatoes in Canada. Currently, JemD Farms owns and operates 150 acres of high-tech greenhouses in Canada and 250 acres in Mexico.

The company chose Virginia because its climate is suited to the operation, and because of the state’s financial support, Visconti said.

All the grant money earmarked for the project will immediately be invested in construction of 18 acres of the greenhouse facility, Visconti said. Some unspecified tax incentives will kick in as the company begins to hire up to 100 workers in the first year, he said.

Over the next four years, Visconti said the company hopes to expand to 50 acres of greenhouse production, and hire an additional 105 employees.

Visconti declined to provide estimated salaries for the new hires, but company spokeswoman Sabrina Pokomandy said they would be competitive.

Pokomandy pointed out that the company has been recognized by the Mexican government as a socially conscious employer, and by the Canadian government as a “best managed” company.

Many of the Dublin jobs are expected to be skilled, as the greenhouse operation is computerized and climate controlled. Everything from temperature to the moisture and fertilizer needs of each plant are monitored to produce a consistent, blemish-free product.

A buffet set up for the announcement featured the company’s cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers. Eggplant is also a major crop for Red Sun Farms.

Construction will begin next month on the first 18 acres of greenhouses. Visconti said he expects the first harvest in April 2014.

The commerce park – which has been waiting and searching for a strong tenant for years – is run by an authority of 13 governments in the region: Bland, Craig, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, Roanoke and Wythe counties, the cities of Radford and Roanoke, and the towns of Christiansburg, Pearisburg, Pulaski and Dublin.

Eleven of those localities invest in the park, the exceptions being Christiansburg and Wythe County, according to the park’s website.

The park is located next to New River Valley Airport and Foreign Trade Zone #238, three miles from Interstate 81.

Weather Journal

5 hours ago