CLAYTON — Hanover Foods will receive $1 million in state funding to help upgrade its harvesting, washing and sorting equipment for thousands of lima beans and corn kernels processed through its only Delaware plant.
The Modernization Investment Support Initiative (MISI) grant is likely to keep the Hanover Plant open for businesses, according to county and state officials. The grant was unanimously approved by the Council on Development Finance on Monday.
“It was impressive when we first met two years ago with the Delaware Department of Agriculture, and a couple weeks later, there were 10 people from the state there to tour the plant,” Hanover Foods Corporation Chief Financial Officer Will Choi said. “Delaware has been very proactive in trying to help us and we very much appreciate that. It hasn’t quite been the case elsewhere.”
Now headed into a century in business, Hanover Foods Corporation is the largest independent-owned food processor on the East Coast. The company, headquartered in Hanover, Pa. packs more than 200 million pounds of cases of frozen, canned and refrigerated food per year between its seven plants in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey, one in the First State and two in Guatemala.
The Delaware plant on Millington Road was acquired by Hanover in 1996 and turned into processing beets, sweet corn, lima beans, dry corn, grilled chicken and edamame. Since Delaware is one of the largest producers of lima beans and edamame, the Clayton plant is ranked one of the top producers of frozen edamame — bringing down the total import amount from China from 100% to 80%, according to Hanover representatives.
Hanover Foods handles harvesting, processing and packaging products that come from 41 farmers in Delaware and 38 in Maryland, as well as distributing it to stores across the coast.
But since it’s been years since the equipment has been updated, the company is seeking ways to improve efficiencies for washing and sorting vegetables as well as modernizing its drying and freezing processes. Those improvements, as well as other site improvements, are projected to reach $8.7 million.
“If the company doesn’t move forward with this project, the Delaware facility could be in danger of being shifted to a neighboring state,” Delaware Prosperity Partnership Senior Manager of Business Development Megan Kopistecki said.
Kent Economic Development Director Linda Parkowski had developed a relationship with Hanover Foods over the four years, noting that it employs 55 people full-time who collectively get paid $3 million per year. But she said this time, the Delaware Department of Agriculture reached out to her office on possible ways to ensure the plant remains in business.
“I can’t stress enough that Hanover is a key employer in our country and our region. It’s vital to Delaware’s agriculture industry,” Parkowski said. “The loss of jobs would be felt deeply, but the loss of Hanover as a consumer of Delaware grown crops would be a monumental blow.”
Delaware Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Stacey Hofmann confirmed with the Delaware Business Times that state Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse had “engaged others to understand the importance of Hanover Foods in relation to our agricultural industry, the middle-of-the-supply-chain and why they should keep operating in Delaware.”
In a prepared comment to DBT, Scuse noted that Hanover Foods is integral to Delaware’s specialty crop sector, processing most of our sweet corn, string beans, peas, and baby lima beans to meet the demands of the frozen market.
“The ability for Hanover to upgrade the Clayton, facility opens new opportunities for Delaware farmers and producers in surrounding states to have produce processed for distribution, and by creating new lines, increases jobs for Delawareans,” Scuse said in a statement.
Delaware first established the Modernization Investment Support Initiative pilot in 2023, with $5 million set aside from the Delaware Strategic Fund. The pilot was launched to aid companies to upgrade existing manufacturing facilities within Delaware that might otherwise fall behind competitive facilities outside the state.
This is the third MISI grant awarded since the program was first launched. The first was granted to High-Tech Machine of Wilmington to install precision computer numerical control machines; the second was for Natural Dairy Products Corporation to sanitize dairy products.
