Frozen food giant invests $184M to build blueberry plant

Oxford Frozen Foods Ltd. is investing $184 million to construct a new processing facility and develop wild blueberry fields in northern New Brunswick, company officials announced on Thursday.

The plan is expected to create up to 300 jobs over a 10-year period and contribute up to $8.6 million annually to the province's gross domestic product, officials said.

Construction of the $50-million, 12,600-square-metre plant on the Acadian Peninsula is scheduled to begin in the spring.

Invest NB is providing a $37.5 million interest-bearing repayable loan toward the construction.

As part of the agreement, the provincial government will also exchange with the Nova Scotia company 6,285 hectares of Crown land for an equal amount of private land.