By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

PLYMOUTH, Ind. — A northern Indiana farming community is reeling from two major food plants closing their doors.

The latest is Del Monte Foods, which announced Sept. 12 the upcoming move of its tomato processing plant in Plymouth to an existing facility owned by the company in Hanford, Calif. This comes a month after TreeHouse Foods, Inc., the parent company of Bay Valley Foods, revealed it was closing its operation in the city.

Both closures will mean about 250 people losing their jobs in a city of fewer than 10,000 residents, officials said. Plymouth is in Marshall County, which has a population of fewer than 50,000.

Jeff Houin, city councilman at-large, said the biggest impact in the long term might not be the number of jobs lost because of other local manufacturers indicating they have open positions that could be filled by some of the soon-to-be-unemployed workers. He said lost revenue for the city could be where most of the pain is felt, with both firms being major users of water and sewer utilities as well as property taxpayers.

Annual financial losses for the city from the plants closing have been estimated as high as $1 million, with Bay Valley Foods being the largest utility customer. Del Monte, which draws most of its water from a well, is primarily a wastewater customer, said Mayor Mark Senter.

According to Del Monte officials, the plant will cease production on or about Nov. 10, with warehousing and distribution there continuing until Feb. 1.

The plant churns out roughly 11 million cases of ketchup, tomato-based sauces and juice from concentrate annually from the facility it has operated for more than 30 years. Dave Meyers, chief operating officer of Del Monte Foods, released a statement about the decision but shared few specifics behind the move.

“Del Monte Foods is proud of its more than 35 years in Plymouth and we thank the dedicated employees and the Plymouth community for its support over the years,” he said. “While this decision was a difficult one, we are committed to continuing to meet the consumers’ demands for high-quality products at a reasonable value.”

The Bay Valley operation, which rolls out banana peppers, jalapenos, pickles and pickle relish, will stop production in Plymouth and Brooklyn, Minn., by the end of the year to streamline operations and reduce costs.

Sam K. Reed, chair and CEO of TreeHouse Foods, said the decisions although “difficult and impactful” on families and communities, were required to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market.

“In order to win in today’s marketplace, we must not only produce the finest quality at the lowest costs, but also fully utilize the capacity of our plants and the capability of our people in doing so,” he said.

Senter said he’s already started the process of finding other food processing companies to occupy the soon-vacant facilities and feels being an agricultural area with a good supply chain will be real selling points in those recruitment efforts.

 “We’re going to let them know what we got to offer,” said Senter.

Even more difficult to measure, perhaps, is the emotional impact whenever people lose jobs at companies they’ve been employed at for decades. Both firms have existed there for more than 30 years.

“Certainly, it’s a scary situation for the people faced with losing their jobs, and hopefully the community can help them find other employment as quickly as possible,” said Houin.