Agristo’s North Dakota Plant: Costs More Than Double to $1B as Timeline Slips to 2029

Belgian potato processor Agristo has started construction on its first North American plant in Grand Forks, North Dakota — but the project looks very different from the original plan. Initially estimated at $450 million, the budget has more than doubled to over $1 billion, driven by higher construction and equipment costs. The 630,000-square-foot facility will process roughly 1.1 billion pounds of potatoes a year, turning out 550 million pounds of frozen products such as french fries, waffle slices, and hash browns.

The first potato processing is now scheduled for the 2029 harvest, a one-year delay designed to give farmers time to build storage capacity and adopt the European practice of planting whole seed potatoes. Agristo plans to contract more than 50 growers across the Red River Valley, covering about 20,000 acres — a move expected to significantly reshape the local agricultural sector.