Upfield has announced plans for a new plant-based production facility in Brantford, Canada, which will replace the company's existing factory in Etobicoke and support the firm's growth strategy. The new site in Brantford will provide expanded production capacity and upgraded equipment to support the production of Upfield's expanding spreads and margarine product portfolio, including Becel margarine and plant-based bricks. The Brantford facility will also reportedly feature a scaled-up manufacturing platform that will support the production of new innovations, such as Violife vegan cheese alternatives. Plans state that the new facility will be fully operational by the end of 2021, and the existing workforce of 86 technical workers at the firm's Etobicoke site will be offered positions at the new production site. Upfield also claims that the expanded site will create additional employment opportunities from 2021 to 2023. Dan Bajor, president of Upfield Canada, said: "Upfield is investing and innovating to expand our plant-based business in Canada and introduce a new product line here, our plant-based cheese product, Violife. As part of this expansion, we are launching production in Brantford. "Our new state-of-the art facility will supply our spreads and plant-based cheese product to Canadian consumers and support the export of Violife to the United States and eventually to markets in Latin America." Earlier this year, Upfield Group announced plans to invest €50 million in a new plant-based research and development (R&D) facility in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Upfield claimed that the new R&D centre would help to accelerate the development of plant-based food products and sustainable packaging solutions.