Ready Roast Nut Company, which recently purchased the Portales Peanut Plant, will establish a production center in Portales, New Mexico. The company plans to create 200 new jobs over the next few years.

The company will initially shell peanuts and expand business to include production of value-added products. Ready Roast's facility sits on 70 acres and has a 53,000-square-foot peanut shelling facility and several large warehouses, along with storage capacity of approximately 28 million pounds of farmer stock peanuts.

The company has also planted 5,000 acres of organic and conventional Valencia peanuts. They have growing contracts for their peanuts that will be supplied to the dairy, snack food, bakery, confectionary, and other food industries.

"Ready Roast is proud to expand its operations into New Mexico and grateful for the support of Governor Martinez, Secretary Barela and bipartisan members of the Legislators who have created a competitive environment to do business," said Tom Finn, President of Ready Roast.

The company will create 30 of these jobs immediately, as the company plans to start production for the fall harvest season, Governor Susana Martinez’s Office said.

"We're proud to welcome Ready Roast to Portales," said Governor Martinez said. "New Mexico is a great place to do business. And as we continue to spread the word around the country, it is resulting in new jobs for our families and helping diversify our economy."

Ready Roast Nut Company was established in California in 2006 by a trio of professionals from the food processing industry who saw an opportunity to address the growing demand for value-added tree nuts. Since its founding, the company has expanded to three operations in California and now expanded into Eastern New Mexico.

"Food production is one of our target industries; They bring good paying jobs to the state and bring new dollars to our economy," said Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela. "New Mexico is seeing continued momentum, and we look forward to helping recruit more businesses from all industries to grow our economy."