AgriAmerica Fruit Products LLC has redeveloped 200 Water Street in Fredonia into a 69,000-square-foot grape juice processing facility (Google Maps)
AgriAmerica Fruit Products LLC has completed the revitalization and upgrade of a 69,000-square-foot grape juice processing facility in Fredonia.
Governor Kathy Hochul said that after the initial investment was made to acquire the property at 200 Water Street in 2018, the company invested more than $2.5 million to purchase and install new machinery within the existing facility that had not been used for any type of production for several years. This project by AgriAmerica has increased Western New York’s fruit processing capacity to better serve the grape farmers in the region.
AgriAmerica LLC — a commercial grape farming entity owned by Eric Huddy and Richard Jozwiak — formed AgriAmerica Fruit Products LLC (AAFP) in 2018 specifically to fill the need for a locally owned and operated fruit processing and juice storage facility in Chautauqua County. Just prior to Huddy and Jozwiak taking action, three area grape juice processing plants had closed or went through significant fruit intake reductions. This left more than 25,000 tons of grape crop unprocessed — causing an annual loss of over $3.5 million to local growers.
AAFP serves the Lake Erie Fruit Cooperative, a farmer-owned cooperative with nearly 100 family farm members who are contracted to locally grow more than 10,000 tons of grapes annually. AAFP’s revitalized and upgraded grape juice factory affords the Cooperative an opportunity to provide a viable and sustainable market for its grape growing members. Crop sale returns are distributed amongst members by the Cooperative in a fair and equitable manner in proportion to the tonnage and quality grade of the fruit delivered by each member. In turn, AAFP processes the freshly harvested grapes and manufactures bulk-shipped single strength juices, juice concentrates, pulps and purees. AAFP remains the only grape processing facility in the Lake Erie Region where 100 percent of the products manufactured are export-grade and Kosher for Passover certified. With this, AAFP has been able to establish long-term product supply relationships with well-known Kosher branded juice and wine bottling companies including Royal Wine Corporation and Kedem Foods.
The expansion project consisted of design, engineering, consulting, facility construction/renovations and the installation of new fixtures and machinery. More specifically, the project will allow AAFP to more efficiently and dependably process fresh fruit, pasteurize and chill juices and refrigerate bulk juice storage tank rooms. In addition to bringing the old, existing systems up-to-date, a brand-new, state-of-the-art juice concentration system was installed.
Rather than importing machines from overseas or out-of-state, AgriAmerica selected local companies based in Buffalo to design, manufacture and install the new juice concentration system. Now, the facility is able to manufacture new concentrate products while achieving a high level of transportation savings and promoting a positive impact on the environment because hauling concentrate requires much less transportation than hauling single strength juice. The completion of this project will greatly assist AAFP toward remaining as a competitive manufacturer of nearly 2 million gallons of grape juice annually. On the supply side, the new processing facility has created a stable outlet for family farms to sell their local grape crop. On the demand side, the Fredonia facility is responsible for producing an equivalent of approximately 32-million servings of grape juice per year to people all around the world.
This project will create an additional five full-time jobs and numerous seasonal positions at the Fredonia processing facility, as well as 469 full-time equivalent jobs over the next four years mainly in the agriculture sector and industries allied with agriculture. The Western New York Regional Economic Development Council (WNYREDC), through Empire State Development (ESD), provided a $498,600 capital grant for this priority project through Round 8 of the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative.
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