Cavendish Farms going Greener

Cavendish to cut costs and emissions with natural gas

S. Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

CAPTION: Robert Irving and Richard Brown announced the plans to have Cavendish Farms changed to Natural Gas by December 2011 Monday at the one of the plants in New Annan.

NEW ANNAN- Cavendish Farms announced their plan to cut costs and greenhouse gas emissions with their switch to natural gas Monday in a press conference at the company’s plant in New Annan.

With the move the P.E.I. potato growing giant aims to cut their production costs by 30 per cent and their greenhouse gas emissions by 28 per cent. Also eliminating the use of 29 millions litres of heavy oil per year.

The plant is receiving a $15 million loan, which is on a five-year term, from the province to help build a receiving station for the natural gas, which is to be transported in large cylinders carried by truck.

The gas will be extracted from the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline in a location near Port Elgin.

The company plans to be switched to natural gas by December of this year, estimating a creation of eight to 10 new jobs. The construction will take 35, 000 man hours of work.

Robert Irving, President of Cavendish Farms said the investment will be good for both business and the environment.

“As with our investment in biogas, we are always looking to reduce our carbon footprint while making our plant more competitive.”

The move will help keep the manufacturing jobs and plants open on P.E.I., he said.

“We appreciate the Province’s support of this investment in cleaner air and energy efficiency.”

The idea came from having to stay competitive because of customer demands for lower prices, the exchange rate and the recession, said Irving.

“It’s a win, win for us to make us more competitive and allow our plant to keep running here for years to come and keep our over 700 employees.”

Richard Brown, P.E.I.’s Environment, Energy and Forestry minister, said the move will reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by one per cent.

“It is the equivalent to taking 4, 200 cars a year off the road.”

Now that Cavendish Farms will be bringing in natural gas, there is potential for a market, said Brown.

“I’m extremely excited about the project, I am extremely excited about bringing natural gas to Prince Edward Island and so be it if this is the first step, trucking it in. If we get a good market in place and a lot of customers online and maybe the pipe could be a thing there we could look at it in the future, but right now its not economical.”

The move will also help P.E.I. achieve the Canadian goal of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent by 2013, eight years ahead of the Nations target, said Brown.

“The reductions after 2013 will contribute to help the rest of the country meet its targets. P.E.I.’s environment is indeed the big winner today.”