Cargill Shutdown Continues

AVON PARK - An additional 20 to 25 workers will be unemployed by Jan. 31 as Cargill Juice North America exits the citrus processing business in Florida.

The company announced plans in August to close the Avon Park and Frostproof plants.

"It's interesting," said Tom Abrahamson, president. "When we decided to shut down the plants for good, we said at the time that we still had inventories of juice, and we estimated they would last until December 2008."

After the latest round of layoffs, about 75 employees will remain in both plants, Abrahamson said. At their peak, Avon Park and Frostproof - at one time owned by Ben Hill Griffin Jr. - employed 225 people, he estimated.

Shutdown

Citing an increasingly difficult industry environment, Cargill announced plans in August to permanently cease operations at its orange and grapefruit juice processing facilities in Avon Park and Frostproof. The workforce, 150 to 200 men and women at the two plants, would be released in phases over the next 18 months as remaining customer commitments are fulfilled.

"I'm proud of what we accomplished in the last few years despite declining demand for 100 percent juices, four damaging hurricanes, spread of citrus diseases and encroaching real estate development that have combined to severely reduce the local citrus harvests," said Abrahamson. The citrus harvest was cut in half over a five year period.

"Ultimately, the combination of those events made it impossible to deliver sustainable and acceptable returns," Abrahamson said.

The Cargill facility in Highlands County, formerly operated by SunPure, is located north of the Avon Park city limits at 1552 SunPure Road. It was the last citrus juice processing facility in the county.

Departing employees were offered transition and outplacement support, according to Cargill.

"We're doing quite well with that," Abrahamson said. "We're working hard to place every one of our employees, either inside or outside of Cargill."

Cargill is still trying to sell the two plants, Abrahamson.

"We're in discussions," he said, without revealing more.

Who Is Cargill?

Cargill Juice is owned by Cargill Inc. in Minneapolis.

With 105,000 employees in 59 countries, Cargill is an international seller of food, agricultural and risk management products and services.

After Koch Industries, Cargill is the U.S.A's second largest privately owned companies. Its divisions include grain, cotton, sugar, petroleum and financial trading, food processing, futures brokering, health and pharmaceutical products, agricultural services such as animal feed and crop protection, and industrial products including biofuels, oils and lubricants, starches, and salt.

Brands include Diamond Crystal (salt), Gerkens (cocoa), Honeysuckle White (poultry), and Nutrena (dog and cat food).