The expansion of a cheese and dairy plant in Las Cruces, which was paid for by the state and the city, is done about four years ahead of schedule.
Jamie Dickerman, vice president of public relations at Sunny505, says that with the expansion, Saputo Dairy USA has added 300 jobs in administration, manufacturing, quality assurance, and maintenance. The public relations firm in New Mexico put out a news release for the city of Las Cruces.
According to the news release, the expansion was first thought to be done in December 2026.
In an email to the Journal, Sunny505 said that the additions were two buildings, a parking lot, and a break room for employees.
Saputo Inc., which is based in Montreal and is the parent company of Saputo Dairy USA, did not want to say anything about the expansion. A person from the city of Las Cruces didn’t know what was included in the buildout. All they knew was that the project needed more than one permit.
Las Cruces City Manager Ifo Pili said in a statement, “This is a huge project for the city of Las Cruces, and we applaud Saputo for their commitment to growth and expansion in Las Cruces.” “Saputo’s expansion not only gives people in southern New Mexico full-time jobs that pay well, but it also helps our agricultural industry and our local economy as a whole.”
Dickerman told the Journal in an email that the hourly pay for the new jobs starts at $16 and that the best annual salary is around $100,000.
Bruce Krasnow, a spokesman for the New Mexico Economic Development Department, said Tuesday that the facility has 375 employees. He also said that “the company is exceeding its goal of creating jobs.”
For the expansion, the state and city had given Saputo $2.8 million through the Local Economic Development Act. Krasnow says that $2.5 million came from the state and $300,000 came from the city of Las Cruces. The money came in June and August. $30 million was spent on capital for the project as a whole.
Krasnow said that the amount of LEDA money given to Saputo is more than is usually given for a project of this size. That’s because the state was giving the project a boost if it was built in an Opportunity Zone, which is usually a poor area. Hiram Roman-Chavez, who is in charge of human resources at Saputo’s Las Cruces plant, said that the expansion made sense from a geographic point of view so that products could be sent all over the country.
