Westland Milk Products plans to build a new processing plant at Rolleston.
. . . Westland chief executive Rod Quin said the plans indicated the confidence Westland had in the future of dairying in and outside of Canterbury.
”We expect that we will continue to expand our supplier numbers in Canterbury and if the Rolleston plant progresses, it will be of significant benefit to the local economy.”
At this stage Westland sends Canterbury milk by rail to Hokitika for processing, but the plan is to process that milk in Rolleston.
The nutritional dairy plant is expected to be built in Rolleston’s Izone Industrial Park.
Quin said new jobs would contribute more than $10 million a year into the local economy. Jobs would be created in such areas as engineering, maintenance, production and environmental management.
The site would include an extension to its railway siding for transporting milk powder. . .
Fonterra might not be happy about its competitor moving across the Southern Alps but it is good news for the local economy and the country.
These new jobs will be particularly welcome close to Christchurch as the earthquake recovery gathers momentum.
So now you have the prospect of Synlait, Fonterra and Westland Dairy having processing plants within 50 km of each other. The only way Canterbury can produce enough milk fat for this is total commitment to irrigation and hydroponic dairy. All other competing land use (crop and drystock) will be gone. Meat processing will be gone. Jobs????