The Cloverdale Growers' Alliance Cooperative, a group of approximately 60 hog farmers in North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana, plans to purchase a majority interest in Cloverdale Foods' Minot, ND, plant.

Cloverdale will remain a minority partner and continue managing the plant, which produces deli meats and other products. The 50 full-time employees will keep their jobs.

The grower cooperative currently supplies about 60,000 hogs a year to the Minot plant, and hopes to gain enough members to expand the capacity to 150,000 hogs annually.

The new owners hope the purchase will guarantee producers a market for their hogs, provide better returns, and create a more reliable hog supply and reduce procurement costs for Cloverdale.

Cloverdale Foods Company is based in Mandan, ND. Learn more by logging onto the company's Web site at http://www.cloverdalfoods.com.