One of the Mid-Columbia’s largest employers has shuttered a potato processing plant and laid off the facility’s roughly 375 workers as part of a restructuring plan.

Taxes, regulations, energy and workforce remain some of the manufacturing industry’s major challenges despite an increase in manufacturing jobs throughout the state.

A new 22,000-square-foot facility off Industrial Way in Pasco will help a global agtech company continue moving “into the future,” an official said.

Local Bounti celebrated the opening of its Pasco facility on May 7 with a ribbon cutting.