Back to our roots: As Boise preps for tech investment, others aim for fresher businesses
Big investments are coming to Southwest Idaho — and no, they’re not all tech-related, despite $16 billion in investments from Micron and Meta for Boise-area expansions.
While businesses are opening up shop in Ada County to cater to the Idaho semiconductor giant and Facebook’s parent company, other national and international investors are placing local bets on the industry that built Idaho: agriculture.
Caldwell, in particular, has focused on attracting agricultural investment, said Steven Jenkins, the city’s economic development director.
“We’re trying to bring in companies that align with the general fabric of this community,” Jenkins said. “(Agriculture) is something that we pride ourselves in.”
The city’s push is beginning to pay off as companies jump into the region and others, like the New Zealand-based Findlay Food Coatings, prepare for expansions.
Findlay Food Coatings, which has had a presence in Canyon County since 2013, is calling dibs on one of the first leased spaces of Texas-based Lincoln Property Co.’s newly opened Sky Ranch industrial park in Caldwell. It announced Jan. 15 that it would open a 36,000-square-foot expansion. That’s roughly twice as big as a National Hockey League rink.
The 23-acre industrial park at 4315 Skyway St. totals about 396,000 square feet, according to Elise Maguire Ferrara, a spokesperson for Lincoln. That’s a sizable addition to Caldwell. It’s about the size of 3½ blocks in downtown Boise.
It is the largest property by square footage in Caldwell, she said, with two buildings, one totaling nearly 337,000 square feet and one with about 59,000 square feet.
The site is less than a five-minute drive south of the Caldwell D&B Supply store that opened in 2023, two minutes east of Thomas Jefferson Charter School, and two minutes north of a Simplot fertilizer and landscaping supplies location. Plans are also in motion to open a Home Depot adjacent to the site.
According to Trever Nicoll, a senior vice president with Lincoln, the industrial park provides Findlay with a convenient location and flexibility for future growth.
“The business is expanding their operations here to provide more service lines for their clients, which required a larger logistics footprint,” Nicoll said by email.
Caldwell pushes for farming industry
Jenkins, the economic development director, said the city has tried to attract and retain food- and agriculture-related businesses like Findlay.
“There has been interest in this area from international groups, and that is predominantly about the raw product you see in Canyon County and Caldwell,” Jenkins said by phone. “We are pretty intentional about our outreach.”
Findlay has helped support the local food industry, Jenkins said, while the nearness of agriculture giant Simplot has also attracted some investment. Simplot, which is headquartered in Boise, was ranked 47th in Forbes’ biggest private companies list in 2024.
“Having an anchor like Simplot has certainly put a spotlight on Caldwell,” Jenkins said.
The location of Caldwell amid rolling farmland and a history built by farmers has also given the city a strategic advantage to attract agriculture and food-related investments, he said. While other cities, such as Boise and Meridian, have seen urban growth replace an ever-increasing numbers of farms, Caldwell has tried to preserve the land outside city limits, he said.
Ada County had over 430,000 acres of farmland at its peak in 1945 but dropped to about 110,000 acres by 2024, according to prior Idaho Statesman reporting. Canyon County has had a much smaller drop, falling from about 390,000 acres at its peak in 1992 to 280,000 acres in 2024.
Ada County lost 162 farms from 2017 to 2022, while Canyon County actually added 22, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“(Agriculture) is a sector that requires a lot of time and research and a firm understanding of the makeup of your community,” Jenkins said. “We … want to maintain a semblance of our cultural heritage.”
The city, he said, understands that the community wants agriculture to be a touch point. This includes Caldwell’s push for more wineries, which Jenkins said is a sector the city wants to see grow.
Though the Treasure Valley is no Napa Valley or Willamette Valley, the region has had a growing presence in American wines, with Caldwell acting as the epicenter for Southwest Idaho. Nineteen wineries make up the western Treasure Valley’s Sunnyslope Wine Trail, 16 of which are southwest of the city. In comparison, there are 16 wineries split among Boise, Garden City and Eagle, according to the Idaho Wine Commission.
Jenkins said the city sees Caldwell and its outskirts as bound to each other in history and the future.
“Everything is linked together,” he said.
Could Caldwell become import, export central?
The city also sits within Foreign-Trade Zone 280 meaning that imported commercial goods can be treated as if they were outside the country and therefore avoid tariffs, duties and certain customs procedures.
“Businesses lower costs by deferring or reducing customs duties on imported goods, by realizing distribution savings, by streamlining processing of goods and eliminating quota restrictions,” according to the Idaho Manufacturing Alliance. “As a result, Idaho companies are better able to compete with foreign manufacturers.”
The zone, Jenkins said, puts Caldwell at an advantage to export and import products from international sources.
“It’s a magnet site,” he said. “That foreign trade zone is certainly a strong part of our … growth.”
Jenkins said he was unsure how things could change with President Donald Trump’s proposed 25% tariff on all goods imported into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, but he is waiting to see potential impacts.
Canada and Mexico are some of Idaho’s biggest trading partners, with agricultural goods such as cattle and dairy some of the state’s largest exports to both nations, according to prior Statesman reporting. The state shipped $2.9 billion in agricultural exports in 2022.
While the tariffs have yet to begin, Jenkins said he is paying attention to the headlines.
“I think it’s to be determined,” he said.
