ConAgra Foods, Inc. is investing $30 million to expand operations at its Boardman, OR facility to grow its Lamb Weston business. The investment will add additional processing capacity for making formed products such as hash brown patties and potato puffs. The addition of the line at the company’s existing facility is expected to add 50 jobs.

The company says the expansion is a necessity given the increasing consumer demand for frozen potato products both domestically and overseas. Construction on the processing line is expected to begin in the spring, with completion in 2017. The added line will increase processing capacity by approximately 50 million pounds once complete.

“With the frozen potato category growing globally, we have tremendous opportunity to support our customers’ growth in the US and around the world,” says Greg Schlafer, president, Lamb Weston. “To capture that growth, we need to make more products. Expanding our operations in the Columbia Basin – with access to great potatoes, people and ports – just makes sense.”

The facility was initially expanded in 2014, adding 300 million pounds of capacity with a new fry line. That $200 million project included plans for the addition announced today. Lamb Weston currently employs 390 people in Boardman.