Lamb Weston to Create 500 Rural Louisiana Jobs

Omaha, Nebraska-based ConAgra Foods has announced that its Lamb Weston unit will invest $210 million in a sweet potato processing plant in rural Richland Parish, Louisiana, creating up to 500 jobs.

The state will contribute up to $37 million, luring the company away from sites in Mississippi and North Carolina.

The plant will open in Fall of 2010, and fully ramp up operations by 2014. The jobs will average $35,000 with benefits.

Founded in 1950, ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston sells potato products in over 100 different countries on all seven continents. They operate over a dozen plants worldwide, with a workforce of over 6,000.