Source: Feed & Grain
Due to myriad factors, commercial grain facility construction and renovations have been tracking upward for at least two years. The demand for facility upgrades and new construction is not only in response to aging domestic material handling equipment, but also rising demand for co-products like soybean oil.
New and expanding soybean crushing plants comprise more than half of the projects highlighted in Feed & Grain’s construction roundup map this year. Driven by the Biden Administration’s pledge to strengthen climate change policies like the Renewable Fuels Standard, which mandates the level of renewable fuel blended into transportation fuel each year, investment in soybean crushing plants by major players is ramping up to an all-time high.
Read on for a sampling of both greenfield and expanded or upgraded grain storage, shuttle loading, inland terminal, export facility and grain processing projects slated to come online within the next few years.
Editor’s Note: New and newly upgraded feed mills, feed pre-mix plants and feed ingredient manufacturing facilities are excluded from this edition. Please see the January 2023 issue for Feed & Grain’s Construction Roundup: Feed Manufacturing Facilities.
1. Sustainable Oils, Inc. Grain Handling and Rail Loading Facility
Havre, MT | Planned Completion: 2022 | New Construction
With 600,000 bushels of storage and rail loading capabilities, the Montana facility will handle Sustainable Oils’ proprietary camelina grain — the feedstock for its Bakersfield, CA, diesel refinery.
2. Richardson Pioneer Inland Grain Terminal
Swan Lake, MB, Canada | Planned Completion: Summer 2022 | Expansion or Upgrade
The elevator will replace its existing wood crib workhouse with nearly 1.5 million bushels of storage capacity, loading capabilities for 150 cars through a loop track, high-speed receiving and loadout, and a new grain cleaning system.
3. ADM Soybean Crushing Plant
Spiritwood, ND | Planned Completion: Fall 2023 | New Construction
Facility will feature state-of-the-art automation technology and have the capacity to process 150,000 bushels/day of soybeans.
4. CGB Enterprises, Inc. and Minnesota Soybean Processors Soybean Crushing Plant
Casselton, ND | Planned Completion: 2024 | New Construction
The jointly-owned processing facility recently broke ground and is expected to crush 42.5 million bushels of soybeans in the first year and create 50 to 60 permanent jobs.
5. RiceBran Technologies Rice Processing Facility
East Grand Forks, MN | Planned Completion: Summer 2022 | Expansion or Upgrade
The project will replace one of the mill’s main grain de-hullers with a new de-huller/pearler; more than doubling the plant’s production capacity.
6. CHS Inc. Grain Handling and Shuttle Elevator
Erskine, MN | Planned Completion: Fall 2023 | Expansion or Upgrade
The state-of-the-art shuttle elevator will bring total capacity at the location to 4.55 million bushels of storage and will complement existing CHS grain, agronomy and energy assets.
7. CHS Inc. Soybean Crushing Plant and Refinery
Mankato, MN | Planned Completion: Summer 2023 | Expansion or Upgrade
A $60 million investment in facility renovations and equipment replacements will increase annual refined soybean oil production by more than 35%.
8. Platinum Crush, LLC Soybean Crushing Plant
Alta, IA | Planned Completion: Spring 2024 | New Construction
When the plant, built adjacent to the CN Railway, becomes operational, it will crush 38.5 million bushels/year of soybeans or 110,000 bushels/day.
9. Shell Rock Soy Processing Soybean Crushing Plant
Shell Rock, IA | Planned Completion: Fall 2022 | New Construction
With soybean crushing capabilities of 30 million bushels/year, the plant will produce more than 800,000 tons/year of soybean meal for livestock and create 50 to 60 high-quality jobs.
10. United Cooperative Grain Handling Facility
Waupun, WI | Planned Completion: 2025 | New Construction
A new state-of-the-art grain facility will limit supply chain issues caused by the trucking industry by taking advantage of inbound and outbound rail.
11. United Cooperative Soybean Crushing Plant
Waupun, WI | Planned Completion: 2025| New Construction
The third and final phase of United Cooperative’s Waupun grain manufacturing plant, this soybean crushing and processing facility will crush 7.5 million bushels of soybeans annually.
12. The DeLong Company, Inc. Maritime Export Facility
Milwaukee, WI | Planned Completion: Spring 2023 | New Construction
The maritime export facility will be one of the first on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system to handle agricultural commodities via truck, rail, and international vessel, including DDGS.
13. Cargill Soybean Crushing Plant
Sidney, OH | Planned Completion: Not provided | Expansion or Upgrade
The expanded soybean crush site will significantly increase production levels while providing state-of-the-art receiving and loading capabilities.
14. ADM Soybean Crushing Plant
Quincy, IL | Planned Completion: 2022 | Expansion or Upgrade
The $25-million upgrade fully aligns the location’s refining capabilities with its crush capacity and allow for greater flexibility in meeting the needs of ADM’s food, biofuel and industrial customers.
15. Farmers Cooperative Grain Handling Facility
Barnes, KS | Planned Completion: Fall 2022 | New Construction
With 1.6 million bushels of total storage in two concrete tanks and receiving legs rated at 20,000 bushels/hour, it will serve area producers where the cooperative is decommissioning older storage equipment.
16. Cargill Soybean Crushing Plant
Kansas City, MO | Planned Completion: Not provided | Expansion or Upgrade
On-site automation enhancements will triple per-hour truck load-out capacity, translating to more efficient time management for drivers.
17. Scoular Grain Handling Facility
Adrian, MO | Planned Completion: Summer 2022 | Expansion or Upgrade
The wheat, corn and soybean handling facility is undergoing an extensive expansion that triples grain unloading speed, quadruples upright storage capacity to 1.2 million bushels and quadruples track capacity to 110 cars.
18. Cargill Soybean Crushing Plant
Wichita, KS | Planned Completion: Not provided | Expansion or Upgrade
The improvements will more than double its hourly soybean unloading capacity and add automation and safety upgrades.
19. Bartlett, a Savage Company, Soybean Crushing Plant
Montgomery County, Kansas | Planned Completion: 2024 | New Construction
The new facility will be capable of crushing approximately 39 million bushels/year of soybeans and provide a consistent source of soybean meal, hulls and oil for meal and refined soybean oil.
20. Cargill Soybean Crushing Plant
Pemiscot County, Missouri | Planned Completion: 2026 | New Construction
The facility will be the first of its kind for southeast Missouri, with an annual production capacity of 62 million bushels of soybeans.
21. CHS Inc. Grain Export Terminal
Myrtle Grove, LA | Planned Completion: Summer 2023 | Expansion
Expansion will add six shipping bins — bringing total shipping bin storage capacity to 850,000 bushels — plus new bulk weighing, grading, barge unloading, and conveying equipment to move 30% more grain annually to global customers.
Reporting by Steven Kilger and Elise Schafer
