New pork plant for Ontario farmers

Ontario farmers will have convenient access to a new hog-packing plant due to open soon near Detroit.

Clemens Food Group is preparing to open Sept. 5 with 800 employees staffing a plant with slaughter capacity of 11,000 hogs per shift.

The plant has cost the family-owned business $256 million, including $12.5 million from the Michigan Strategic Fund-Community Development Block Grant program.

Ontario farmers have been shipping a significant number of hogs out of province, mostly to Quebec, since Quality Packers closed its plants in Toronto and Mitchell in 2014.