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NACA, an Ontario, Ore.-based food trucking company operated as a cooperative by J.R. Simplot Co., Ore-Ida Food, Inc., and two other entities, plans to shut down its long-haul, frozen food division Aug 6. and lay off 138 employees.
Jerry Ready, executive vice president, said NACA's smaller raw products division would remain in operation, probably with about 35 employees.
NACA, formed in 1963, is a cooperative owned by Simplot, Ore-Ida, Walla Walla Grain Growers, Inc., and Cenex, a Minneapolis-based agricultural cooperative. NACA stands for Northwest Agricultural Cooperative Association.
Ready attributed the decision to shut down the long-haul operation--which hauled frozen french fries and other frozen food products, mainly from Simplot and Ore-Ida plants--to "basic economics ... it's not profitable."
Erosion of profitability, he said, was "a culmination of a lot of things ... the rate structure is being driven down by there being more...