LONGMONT The closing of Longmont’s Butterball plant at the end of the year marks the end of a 51-year run for Longmont’s turkey plant. More importantly, it means 349 people are joining the ranks of the unemployed.
In September, North Carolina-based Butterball announced it was shutting down its Longmont facility at the end of the year, blaming high grain and fuel costs that had made its westernmost production plant no longer financially viable.
Butterball bought the turkey plant from ConAgra Foods in 2006, and in 2008 announced it would no longer raise and slaughter turkeys in Longmont, instead focusing on processing turkey into deli meats and other similar products. That decision led to the loss of nearly 500 jobs, both at the plant and at surrounding turkey farms.
Abundio Canales, 53, and some of his colleagues said the company’s announcement to shut down the plant took them by surprise.
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