Foster Farms closes processing plant

Foster Farms will relocate processing operations to Kelso, Washington, but will operate the Creswell facility until the new one is built.

“We hated to leave, but the business dictated it,” Frank Panarra, human resources manager for Foster Farms.

The Creswell complex was home to Willamette Poultry Co. until Foster Farms purchased the facility in 1987.

“It’s been in the works for the past eight years,” said Al Acosta, manager of the Creswell facility. “That was the reasoning behind building that facility (Kelso, Washington) – to incorporate all the smaller plants Foster Farms had acquired.”