<p>A $10 million almond processing plant is being built in Madera to meet the growing demand for nut processing services in the region.A groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday at 2725 Falcon Drive in Madera. The plant will be owned and operated by California Custom Processing.The owners of the company, Grant Willits and Sonya Trevino, have more than 75 years of experience, collectively, in the fruit and nut processing industry. Span Construction and Engineering will be the general contractor of the 83,000-square-foot building on 8.5 acres.California Custom Processing has 40 employees and that number is expected to double with the opening of the new plant.Founded in 2012, the processing company is one of the San Joaquin Valley’s leading almond processors and is a certified organic processor. Earlier this year, the company installed a $1 million cool steam pasteurization system that allows the company to naturally pasteurize 10,000 pounds an hour of almonds and other nuts.<br></p>