A multi-million dollar makeover of a feedmill and grain storage plant in Wanganui is expected to provide jobs for about a dozen staff with that number doubling during peak production periods.
SealesWinslow has taken over the old Ingham plant in Aramoho and the upgrade is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2013-14 dairy season.
The animal feed producer has plants operating in Morrinsville and Ashburton.
Graeme Smith, SealesWinslow chief executive, told the Chronicle the development acknowledged the rapidly expanding customer base of dairy, sheep and beef farmers in the Wanganui region.
SealesWinslow was formed last year when Ballance Agri-Nutrients bought a 51 per cent shareholding in both Seales Ltd in Morrinsville and Winslow Feeds and Nutrition in Ashburton.
Mr Smith said the modernised Aramoho plant would produce high energy, high protein stock feed for the local market.
"It's blended stock feed and most of it would be in pelletised form," he said.
One of the competitive advantages the new plant gave the company was its ability to blend stock feed for individual farmers' requirements, he said.
"That's what we've been doing from our Morrinsville plant but the big plus setting up in Wanganui is that it eliminates transportation costs for your market."
"We only got the ink on the paper last week, so it means we've got a pretty tight timeframe to work in to get the plant operational by the start of the dairy season next year," he said.
Mr Smith said the state-of-the-art feedmill equipment was being sourced from manufacturers in Europe.
"The old plant at Aramoho needs replacing."
The refurbished feedmill would provide full-time employment for 10-12 staff and probably double that number at the peak of the season.
He said upgrading the Aramoho plant would be "great news" for the region's arable sector.
"We'll be buying thousands of tonnes of grain from farmers in the area, which means more money is injected into the local economy. It's logical we source our raw material from local arable farmers and there are also other spin-offs for the distribution and transport industry locally."
He said SealesWinslow bought the Wanganui operation because it was an ideal base for serving high growth dairying regions, including Taranaki, Wanganui and Manawatu.