BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana economic development officials said Wednesday that 20 jobs will be created in Acadia Parish when a rice milling company invests $16.2 million in facilities to make ready-to-eat products.
Supreme Rice is making the investment to develop parboil facilities in Crowley and Mermentau, the state’s economic development department said in a news release.
In Mermentau, the company will build a new facility to partially cook the rice for the new product line. In Crowley, it will develop a new parboil mill inside its existing facility.
Construction is expected to start later this year. The state says the company will retain 181 current jobs.
The state provided an incentive package including $1.5 million from the state’s Economic Development Award Program.
“As a processor of one of Louisiana’s key crops, Supreme Rice is both a cultural ambassador and an agribusiness leader for our state,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in the news release. “This expansion and the new jobs it will generate in Acadiana will help to sustain the growing momentum of our rural revitalization efforts.”
