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Tempers flare as drivers look for alternate route out of Cultus Lake Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
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Rogers Foods officials, Hiroyuki Miyashita (manager of engineering), Vic Bell (president) and Kelly O’Brien (operations manager) discuss plans for a new mill in Chilliwack.
Rogers Foods launches major expansion Jennifer Feinberg The Progress The local food processing industry just got a major shot in the arm. A new flour mill is set to be built by Rogers Foods in Chilliwack that will boost its capacity by a whopping 80 per cent. “The decision to expand was made because sales have overfilled capacity of the plant,” said Vic Bell, president of Rogers Foods Ltd., a subsidiary of Nisshin Flour Milling Inc. Once the new mill is built on Simpson Road, the total combined capacity, including the Armstrong plant, will see 770 metric tonnes per day of wheat milled — an
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increase of about 50 per cent. The Chilliwack mill underwent an expansion of 22 per cent in 2010, but strong sales prompted the decision for second milling unit. Bell points to factors like population growth in the Pacific Northwest region of about one per cent, coupled with a resurgence in the market for grain-based products. With a solid population base, a taste for Japanese food culture, and a trending market toward specialty flours, the West Coast positioning is ideal. “We have been able to meet that demand with our growing line of specialty flours and mixes,” Bell said. “That gives us very strong
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confidence that we are dealing with a very stable product, commonly consumed in North America in bread and bread products.” Construction completion is slated for Fall 2017. With a current staff of 38 employed by Rogers Foods, the company will see nine new jobs created when the expansion is complete. “We would like to break ground by October 2015,” said Bell. “We are hopeful we can beat the official construction schedule, and to have operations started by the spring of 2017.” Bell had high praise for the support that continues to be demonstrated for Rogers Foods by the community, City of Chilliwack and CEPCO.
“Chilliwack has been very special to us, and have been tremendous partners,” he added. A project team is place, including two Nisshin colleagues from Japan, to bring the Rogers milling expansion to fruition. The new unit will be a little over 25 metres in height or about five storeys high, and will be able to process about 550 metric tonnes of wheat per day. The new facility for Chilliwack is part of a management plan announced by Nisshin Seifun Group, to target “self-sustained growth” and the project will also include silo room for wheat storage and bulk flour storage. jfeinberg@theprogress.com twitter.com/chwkjourno
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A powerful windstorm brought down a large tree and some power lines near Cultus Lake on Saturday afternoon. The fallen tree cut off traffic on Columbia Valley Highway — the main access road in and out of the Cultus Lake community. That led to hundreds of motorists trying to take the private road through the Soowahlie reserve. Some Soowahlie members responded by locking the gate for safety reasons, Soowahlie chief Brenda Wallace told The Progress. It’s not the first time the Soowahlie road has been blocked to public access. A gate was installed last summer after an ongoing speeding situation raised safety concerns along the road that has a 30 km/hr speed limit. On Saturday a toll was erected at the gate for a couple of hours, where drivers were being asked to pay a $20 charge, which infuriated some of them. “Things escalated quickly,” Wallace said. “Everyone was quite upset about the tolls.” The ensuing lineup of cars, and growing number of frustrated drivers, made the situation chaotic. Wallace got a call around 2:30 p.m. by a band council member and was told the situation was getting “out of control.” More traffic was backing up and tempers were flaring. “People were in panic mode and we had absolutely nothing in place to deal with that amount of traffic,” she said. The Soowahlie leader was out of town when the storm hit on Saturday, but has been dealing with the situation ever since returning home.