Busch Agricultural Building New Malt Barley Elevator in Northern Rockies

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Busch Agricultural Resources Incorporated (West Fargo, North Dakota), the agricultural research and operations subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies Incorporated (NYSE: BUD) (Saint Louis, Missouri), has begun construction on a new malt barley elevator and handling facility in Sidney, Montana.

Busch Ag has selected leading agricultural contractor Agri-Systems (Billings, Montana) to construct the $6.8 million facility and the company is currently pouring concrete at the site for the large steel storage bins that will be erected at the site. The elevator will have a loading capacity of 100,000 bushels per day and a storage capacity of 1.5 million bushels.

The facility is located roughly one half mile east of Sidney and the site was selected by the company because of its ample supplies of irrigation water, proximity to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway and excellent crop growing climate.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by August of 2003, just in time for the harvest season. The new facility will also create about seven permanent jobs for the area.

The Sidney elevator will be the thirteenth location in the company's barley elevator portfolio and the forth in Montana joining sites in Conrad, Fairfield and Fromberg. Busch Ag is also underway on a $20+ million project to double the size and capacity of their malting plant located in Idaho Falls, Idaho.