Chip factory fires coal
McCain Foods Timaru plant is aiming to reduce its demand for heating fuel and CO2 emissions generated by burning coal.
According to media reports, the company wrote to growers saying that following a review of operations at the site, it would be closing the Hastings factory.
Production would continue at the site through the remainder of the processing and packing season.
Foley says the closure will have a massive effect on the Central Hawke's Bay, which is already grappling with the Watties restructure announced last week.
"My thoughts immediately go to everyone here that's trying to navigate this news," he says. "There's no warning for this type of thing."
"I think about people like Simon, one of our crop farmers who sends his peas and corn to McCains. This impacts him, his family and the people that work for him."
Foley says the Central Hawke's Bay is a tight-knit community and when any part of that community takes a hit "it hurts all of us".
"There’s a chain of people affected; growers, contractors and people that sow the seed, trucks, processors.
"We need to get to the bottom of the concerns these businesses raise before we get more surprises like this, that cause more heartache and more pain."
