OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen AgriAmerica Fruit Products has finished its $2.5 million expansion project for its plant on Water Street, Fredonia.

A Fredonia food manufacturer is able to expand operations following the completion of its plant.

On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that AgriAmerica Fruit Products LLC has completed the revitalization and upgrade of a 69,000-square-foot grape juice processing facility located at 200 Water St. After the initial investment was made to acquire the property 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.

“The expansion of AgriAmerica’s processing capabilities provides a much-needed production facility for Chautauqua County grape farmers,” Hochul said. “This Western New York Regional Economic Development Council investment is just another example of how we are helping upstate businesses take advantage of the region’s resources to generate growth, opportunity, and create jobs as we work together to initiate future economic prosperity.”

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “This expansion of a Western New York grape processor is a great example of the positive results we can achieve through strategic state investment. By leveraging existing resources, we can support the growth of local companies like AgriAmerica. I am very pleased ESD could help ensure such an important food manufacturer expand and support area farmers in Chautauqua County.”

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “New York’s grape growers lead our nation in the production of this specialty crop that supports our agricultural community and grape-related businesses, crafting value-added products, across New York State. The expansion of the AgriAmerica processing facility will provide our state’s producers with another market opportunity and bring New York grape juice to consumers around the world.”

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.

AgriAmerica Fruit Products, LLC, Founding Partner and Managing Member Eric Huddy said, “My business partner Richard Jozwiak and I shared a vision for the future of the old vacant factory in Fredonia. Here in the rural western New York State, the grape industry is absolutely critical. Based on this understanding, AgriAmerica’s Fredonia Grape Juice Factory Revitalization Project received overwhelming support not only from the Village of Fredonia and County of Chautauqua but also throughout the New York’s Lake Erie and Finger Lake grape growing regions, which included numerous towns and counties that had vineyard operators who stood to benefit from this project. We are truly grateful for the awesome level of support we received for this project from the community, the farmers and government at the local, county and state level. The completion of this project will greatly assist AAFP toward remaining as a competitive manufacturer of nearly 2-million gallons of grape juice annually.”

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, 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.

WNYREDC Co-Chair and Campus Labs Co-Founder Eric Reich said, “We are always looking to support solid projects that generate jobs and economic opportunity. Because of the Governor’s unwavering commitment to upstate companies, they are taking their business to the next level, growing their workforces and fueling economic opportunities statewide.”

Chautauqua County Executive Paul M. Wendel Jr. said, “AgriAmerica’s investment in Chautauqua County represents more than just the revitalization of a facility — it’s a commitment to the hardworking grape growers who define our region’s agricultural identity. This expansion ensures that local family farms have a reliable, local partner for their harvests and strengthens our position as a leader in juice and wine production. I commend AgriAmerica and Empire State Development for their collaboration on this vital project that brings jobs, opportunity, and long-term growth to our community. I’d also like to thank Mark Geise, our Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and CEO of the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, for his steadfast leadership in helping to move this project forward. Multi-level partnerships like this — between the state, our county IDA, and local stakeholders — are what make doing business in Chautauqua County strong and why this region continues to be a great place to grow and invest.”

County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency CEO Mark Geise said, “I am glad the CCIDA had the opportunity to work with Mr. Huddy and his team at Agri-America, along with the State, to provide financial incentives to bring the Fredonia-based facility back to life thereby creating good paying jobs and supporting the Concord grape farmers in the region.”

Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson said, “We are proud to have AgriAmerica as a part of our Fredonia landscape. Our history was built on agriculture and becoming the world’s largest concord grape region, but for a while many farmers struggled to get their grapes processed. We are thrilled to see the expansion of grape processing capacity and production in our community.”