Construction on the processing line and warehouse expansion has started and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2025
JBS Foods Canada is investing about $90 million in a new patty processing line and fulfillment centre at its Brooks plant, a move that will provide one of Canada’s largest beef processing companies with help from an estimated $10.7-million tax credit from the Alberta government.
The province announced Thursday that JBS Foods Canada, a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., has qualified for the province’s Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program by expanding its facility in the southern Alberta city, about 160 kilometres southeast of Calgary.
Construction on the processing line and warehouse expansion has started and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2025, creating up to 24 permanent jobs and 170 temporary ones in Brooks, where JBS currently employs more than 2,800 employees.
“JBS is a cornerstone in Brooks, creating jobs and ensuring Alberta’s world-renowned beef makes it to the millions who love to eat it,” said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat, in a Thursday statement.
“This expansion is great news for JBS, Brooks and Alberta as a whole, showing the importance of our Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit. Our local and provincial economies are growing and that’s exciting to see.”
The province says it started offering Alberta’s government the Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program in the spring of 2023 in a bid to attract “even more large-scale investment in agri-food manufacturing.”
“This tax credit program is building on Alberta’s existing competitive advantages for agri-food companies and the primary producers that supply them,” said Alberta Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson in a statement. “This facility expansion will allow JBS Canada to increase its beef production capacity, which means more Alberta beef patties on the grill in restaurants across the country.”
Under the Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit program, companies must invest at least $10 million in a project to build or expand a value-added agri-processing facility in Alberta, and the program provides a 12 per cent non-refundable tax credit based on qualifying project costs. For JBS, that means roughly $10.7 million back on its estimated $90-million investment.
JBS Foods Canada president Celio Fritche said the expansion was possible “in no small part” due to the tax credit.
“(The expansion) significantly enhances our value-added processing and fulfilment capabilities,” said Fritche.
In 2013, JBS acquired Edmonton-based company XL Foods’ Lakeside beef-packing plant in Brooks. It had just reopened after being shut down due to a massive E. coli outbreak, which led to the largest beef recall in Canadian history.
Beef, restaurant industries welcome Brooks plant expansion
Once construction on the expansion is done, JBS Foods Canada will be able to produce seven million more kilograms of beef patties every year for Western Canadian restaurants, according to the province’s news release.