News
New oilseed crush plant project will break ground next week
The CEO of the South Dakota Soybean Processors says construction of a new oilseed crush plant near Mitchell is expected to begin later this fall.
Tom Kersting tells Brownfield a groundbreaking event is scheduled for Tuesday and another permit is needed before anything is built.
“After we get the permit, we can start pouring the foundational type structures and next summer is when you’ll start seeing things come out of the ground.”
Once completed, the Mitchell plant will have the capacity to crush 100,000 bushels a day. Kersting says the new plant will be different from the two other crush facilities owned by the co-op.
“It’s a switch plant and has the capability to process not only soybeans, but other crops with high oil content including sunflowers, canola and camelina.”
Kersting says the ability to crush multiple oilseeds could expand specialty crop acres in areas of the state and the plant will consume more South Dakota grown soybeans.
He also says the soybean meal produced at the plant will be exported and some of the oil produced will make renewable diesel.
“For years, almost all of the oil produced at our crush facilities went to the food industry and now, half of it is going into renewable diesel and we expect that to grow.”
Kersting says the co-op is partnering with a company to take the oil and make renewable diesel. That name will be unveiled during the groundbreaking event on Tuesday. The co-op is also exploring partnerships to export soybean meal.
“If we look forward, we look at the demand coming and what’s available in the global protein market and we feel pretty good about it.”
Kersting says the new crush facility will take two years to build and is expected to be operational by October 2025. Read more about the new crush plant.
