Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
Since its opening in 2010, Lamb Weston of Delhi has been a wave of good returns to the Richland Parish economy and community. Formerly known as ConAgra, Lamb Weston created a massive new market for sweet potato farmers in Northeast Louisiana, which lowered overhead and utility costs by avoiding 100% fresh pack production.
I am always proud to tell my out of town friends that Richland Parish is home to one of the largest sweet potato processing facilities in the entire world. Most of us living here still don’t understand how much economic benefit and notoriety comes from that plant, sitting in the middle of Dunn, Louisiana. With nearly three hundred good paying jobs, Lamb Weston is one of the largest employers in Richland Parish. This combined with the value added by creating those delicious sweet potato fries you see in restaurants all the time now, we wanted to let the community know how we feel about Lamb Weston.
A constant sponsor and supporter of our schools, little league baseball and softball, Council on Aging and food banks in Northeast Louisiana, Lamb Weston fully backed up the promise made ten years ago to become immersed in this community. We must remind everyone that our own organization, the Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce, would have never gotten off the ground without Lamb Weston. In fact, our very first Chairman was Jim Kirkham, former plant manager of the Delhi facility. Jim has since moved, but he injected tremendous passion into the founders of our chamber, and truly shaped the idea into the thriving group it is today.
In this part of the world, agriculture defines our successes and failures. I have always questioned why, as a state and region, we don’t invest more economic development projects by the way of food. The ground which we walk upon in Northeast Louisiana feeds more people on this planet than just about anywhere else in the world. It is who we are, and who we will continue to be in the future. Lamb Weston is a fantastic example of how our farmers can become part of a life changing experience for hard working families.
Ten years have passed since Lamb Weston came into town, and they have made good on every promise made along the way. This is a Richland Parish success story, and on behalf of the Richland Chamber, I want to say thank you Lamb Weston.
#WeWin
Scott Franklin
Chairman
Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce