A national egg producer continues to work toward opening its newest processing hub in Pasco and is looking for more farms to bring on board.

Design and engineering for Versova’s new plant, which will be in the former Reser’s Fine Foods facility at 5310 Industrial Way, is underway, according to a company statement to the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. The 110,000-square-foot plant is scheduled to become operational in the third quarter of 2026.

Versova says the facility is critical to its business as product demand continues to grow, putting the company on the hunt for new egg sources.

“As our cage-free, free-range and organic egg production continues to expand in the northwest, we are eager to partner with local farmers to expand our egg supplier network,” the company said.

Versova is a holding company formed in 2016 for a group of family egg farms in Iowa and Ohio, including Centrum Valley Farms, according to the company’s website. Altogether they produce almost 8 billion eggs per year. Their products include fresh shell eggs and egg products, such as egg whites, whole eggs, frozen egg products and sugared and salted yolks.

Their eggs are sold in major retail and grocery stores nationwide, while also supplying other food processors and food service clients.

Versova moved into the Pacific Northwest market in 2021 when it acquired Willamette Egg Farms, its first owned-and-operated egg production facility outside its home states. It currently operates several egg farms between Pasco and Moses Lake.

The future Pasco facility will be what is called a nest run facility, serving as a hub to grade, clean and package eggs for the consumer market. Company officials have said the facility will expand its capacity and flexibility in serving the region.

“When completed, the plant will significantly expand our egg processing capacity, which will create more flexibility in serving our customers and bring greater stability to the egg supply chain,” the company said.

The company has not disclosed how many staff it will employ at the Pasco facility.

Reser’s built the Industrial Way plant in 1998. It includes an ambient temperature area, refrigeration area, dry storage area and shop space with mezzanine storage. The building has staff support areas with offices, conference rooms, multiple break rooms, a lunch room, laundry room and staff locker rooms.

Reser’s moved its Tri-Cities operations in the summer of 2022 after building a new 340,000-square-foot facility on Capitol Avenue in Pasco.