The Oregon Potato Co. plans to close a plant in Stayton next month and lay off all 485 employees who work there, beginning at the end of October.
Farmers cooperative NORPAC filed for bankruptcy last month and agreed to sell its assets to Oregon Potato for $155.5 million. NORPAC’s Stayton food processing plant wasn’t initially part of the sale, but the cooperative notified employees last week that Oregon Potato does now plan to buy that facility — and to close it.
Another buyer could conceivably outbid Oregon Potato in the pending bankruptcy auction and take control of the Stayton facility, but NORPAC warned employees that even in that case the new owner might not keep the facility open.
Neither NORPAC nor Oregon Potato responded to calls seeking additional detail of the closure.
Oregon Potato is acquiring NORPAC facilities in Brooks and Salem and in Quincy, Washington. The Capital Press reported last month that 140 farmers owned the NORPAC cooperative and had $310 million in annual sales. It had 1,125 full-time workers and employed another 1,100 during harvest season.
NORPAC’s cuts are the latest in a string of layoffs this year at Oregon employers including Nestle, Insitu, Union Pacific and Harry’s Fresh Foods. The state’s labor market remains hearty overall, though, with unemployment at a historic low of 4.0 percent.
