FAIRFIELD — The expansion of Koch Foods, which was expected to add nearly 390 jobs to Fairfield this year, has been delayed indefinitely.
Greg Kathman, the city’s economic development manager , said the expansion would still take place sometime this year, but rising food prices, courtesy of the 2012 drought, threw a wrench in the works. Koch Foods is a chicken processing plant on Port Union Road and is one of Fairfield’s largest industries. It is the top user of the city’s water supply, officials said.
“They announced, and we approved an incentive package with them, but they didn’t actually start their project in 2012. The drought really affected the price of corn, which affected the feed stock for the chickens, which impacted their ability to do a project here,” Kathman said.
Therefore, the project is on hold, at least for now. Kathman said he hopes the project will still go forward in 2013, once the price of corn stabilizes.
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