An aerial image shows the North Dakota Soybean Processors Plant at Casselton, North Dakota. (Photo courtesy of North Dakota Soybean Processors)
CASSELTON, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota has traditionally exported the vast majority of its soybean crop, but that is changing with the opening of a second soybean crushing plant within the state.
North Dakota Soybean Processors on Wednesday had the official opening of its $400 million plant at Casselton.
Gov. Doug Burgum noted that with the Casselton plant and the Green Bison Soybean Processing plant that opened at Spiritwood east of Jamestown last fall, North Dakota can now process half its soybeans.
“When you’re exporting everything, you’re at the whims of the world market,” Burgum said at the opening.
Before adding these crushing plants, North Dakota has typically only used about 4% of its crop in-state, according to the North Dakota Soybean Council. North Dakota soybeans have traditionally been exported through ports in the Pacific Northwest to markets in Asia.
Stephanie Cook is a farmer at Davenport, south of Fargo, who already has delivered soybeans to the Casselton plant. “It’s just nice to have another option,” she said.
Justin Sherlock, is the president of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association and farms near Dazey, closer to Spiritwood than Casselton.
He said soybean growers have typically sold their crop at harvest or in early winter when there is export demand through ports in the Pacific Northwest. With the crushing plants, there are marketing opportunities throughout the year.
“This will be a culture shift,” Sherlock said, saying farmers in his area are already storing more soybeans.
Tom Malecha, president of the North Dakota Soybean Processors, said the plant expects farmers to truck in soybeans from about a 100-mile radius, reaching into Minnesota and South Dakota.
But the plant also can take delivery by rail from elevators hundreds of miles away.
The North Dakota Soybean Processors site was chosen for its access to rail and truck routes.
The Casselton plant will crush soybeans, extracting soybean oil that can be turned into renewable diesel fuel and for use in the food industry. It also will produce soybean meal and pellets from the soybean hulls that can be used for livestock feed.
The rail access means it will be able to deliver products into Canada and down into Mexico.
The plant brings about 75 jobs to Casselton, which the company says it has been able to fill.
The plant began taking delivery of soybeans in July and its crushing operation will begin in mid-September.
The plant can crush 125,000 bushels per day and about 42 million bushels per year. The Green Bison plant, a joint venture between ADM and Marathon Petroleum, has an even bigger processing capacity of 150,000 bushels of soybeans per day.
North Dakota Soybean Processors is a spinoff of Minnesota Soybean Processors, a farmer-owned cooperative based in Brewster, Minnesota, that built its first crushing plant in 2003.
Minnesota Soybean Processors partnered with Louisiana-based CGB Enterprises on the expansion into North Dakota.
By Jeff Beach (North Dakota Monitor)
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