Minnesota Soybean Processors Begins Construction of New Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The farmer owned cooperative of Minnesota Soybean Processors (Brewster, Minnesota), with construction management assistance and equity drive organizing help from the South Dakota Soybean Processors (Volga, South Dakota) has begun construction on a new soybean crushing and processing plant in Brewster, Minnesota.

The company has been trying to get to the "start of construction" phase since early 2000 and after years of permitting and getting the equity together to build the plant, ground is finally being turned for the project.

Once completed in November of 2003, the plant would crush roughly 100,000 bushels of soybeans daily producing approximately 770,000 tons of soybean meal and cake annually. One third of the meal will go to local markets and the balance going to western markets. The facility will also produce around 200,000 tons of crude soybean oil and in the future, the site may also boast a biodiesel production unit.

The site of the $18.7 million plant is located on the Union Pacific Railroad and along the I-90 corridor near Brewster about 65 miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota making the site a prime location to receive beans from Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa.

Forty new jobs will be created once the Brewster location operational and up to 123 new jobs could be created in the surrounding area. The operating expenses of the plant are projected to exceed $14 million and the impact of this facility to the surrounding communities is projected to be $25 million.

Minnesota Soybean Processors is a new start up company consisting of a group of farmers who conceived the idea of a farmer owned and controlled soybean plant while waiting in elevator lines to deliver grain. The group expanded and formally organized as a 308A cooperative in May of 1999. The company received their federal 521 registration in July 2000 and have registered to sell stock in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.