Camden, N.J.— As consumers continue to migrate to more natural products, Campbell Soup Co. has agreed to buy organic manufacturer Pacific Foods for $700 million, the company announced on Thursday.

Pacific, which is based in Tualatin, OR, had $218 million in sales over the past year. Campbell has posted declining sales for three straight years. It purchased Bolthouse Farms in 2012. According to Bloomberg, Campbell has failed to capitalize on that purchase.

Pacific Foods was founded in 1987 as a tofu company specializing in organic soups, broths and non-dairy milks. According to a statement issued by Pacific, the company will remain in Tualatin, where it employs about 500 people.

"Today, a whole lot of people like what we do," wrote Pacific CEO Chuck Eggert in a Facebook post. "The pressure to grow, however, is inherent in business. When we started looking at our options for increasing capacity – really what we can do to scale organics and provide more people with high quality, nourishing foods at prices they can afford – we realized we couldn't do it alone."

“The acquisition allows us to expand into faster-growing spaces such as organic and functional food,” Campbell CEO Denise Morrison said in Thursday’s statement.

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Published on WholeFoods Online July 7, 2017