Oregon Looks South to Recruit Food Processing Companies

Recruitment Effort to be Cooperative "Team Oregon" Approach

This month, officials from Business Oregon, the Oregon Department of Agriculture and several local economic development partners headed to a major food trade show in the hopes of attracting California food processors northward to the state.

These types of shows are ideal venues for business recruitment. The Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco attracts more than 17,000 visitors, with about 350 California companies alone in attendance. In March 2012, the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim also will attract a large number of potential business targets.

Team Oregon will set up a state of Oregon booth at both shows and representatives will work the events, meeting with companies that attend. The local economic development officials from Oregon will be able to make a personal pitch for their own community, in addition to the whole team representing Oregon.

"We are a rural community with rich and thriving agriculture," says Jody Christensen, director of the McMinnville Economic Development Partnership, who is interested in attending the California shows. "We don't want to pit ourselves against other communities or states, but just want to show companies the benefits of coming to McMinnville. If it makes sound business sense for them to locate here, we happily welcome them."

Other Oregon communities showing interest in recruiting food companies include Forest Grove and SEDCOR (the Strategic Economic Development Corporation) which represents the Mid-Willamette Valley.

"Marion County is Oregon's top ranked agricultural county and we already have some of the best food processors in the state," says SEDCOR's Nick Harville. "There is already a great infrastructure and supply chain for goods and plenty of opportunity for new companies because of the tremendous variety of crops we produce."

Past efforts to recruit California food companies have had significant success. In 2006, Amy's Kitchen expanded its organic frozen food processing operation to include a major facility in the Medford area. Lower electric power costs, lower workers' compensation costs and the diversity of local crops were some of the major factors the company chose Oregon and employed around 250 people.

Now, innovation is driving growth in Oregon's $7.1 billion food industry. State-sponsored research is making food processors more productive while it is expected to help cut energy consumption by 25% in the next 10 years. In 2010, nearly 24,000 Oregonians worked in food manufacturing jobs with an average pay of $34,000 a year. The Oregon Employment Department said food manufacturing payrolls in Oregon totaled more than $800 million annually.

Earlier this year, the leadership of the Oregon Economic Development Association (OEDA)—which is made up of city, county and regional economic development organizations—surveyed their members on what kind of companies and industries they are most interested in recruiting. The survey results prompted OEDA, Business Oregon and ODA to develop a plan to seek out food processors, particularly those from California, through participation in the upcoming trade shows.

A sampling of companies in Oregon who've been helped by Business Oregon: