Superior Farms, Davis, Calif., unveiled the renderings for its new Dixon, Calif., lamb processing facility.

Designed with an eye toward green technologies, the new lamb processing plant will reduce the company’s total carbon footprint by leveraging the best in ergonomics, natural lighting, wind power and water reduction (estimate is 30%), while reducing the company’s total energy consumption by 45%. It will be built adjacent to the current plant, which will remain operational until the new construction is complete to prevent production downtime.

“We are ‘right-sizing’ this facility, meaning, we’re building the plant to be more efficient and appropriate for the number of livestock coming through today,” says Shane MacKenzie, vice president of operations. “And, we’ve used some of the best experts in the field to help design something that makes sense—our own employee owners who work the line every day and know it better than anyone.”

The new 50,000-square-foot facility will feature several processing rooms, refrigerated coolers and freezer space, employee welfare areas, training rooms, warehouse and distribution docks, livestock yards and office space. It will also house new state of the art packaging equipment that’s energy efficient and ergonomically sound. For the build-out, the company plans to incorporate environmentally conscious and sustainable elements, while taking advantage of new technologies that offer safer and healthier ways to operate.

“We believe in the U.S. lamb industry,” says Rick Stott, chief executive officer. “We want to give producers the confidence that they will have a market for their lambs for a long time to come. As stewards of all things lamb, we are investing not only in this plant, but also in the producers. Together we will thrive.”