North Dakota Soybean Processors on Wednesday, Aug. 7, celebrated its grand opening with a standing-room-only crowd that spilled out of a large white tent in front of the plant’s newly built offices.
CASSELTON, N.D. — North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum both recall a meeting more than seven years ago during which they pushed soybean industry leaders to work toward building value-added soybean processing in the state.
The state’s soybean industry by then already was booming, but the vast majority of the beans were being shipped not just out of state but out of the country. There was no large-scale effort to add value to the crop. Marketing options for farmers were few.
North Dakota Soybean Processors President Tom Malecha begins his remarks at the grand opening for teh facility west of Casselton, North Dakota, on Aug. 7, 2024.
Now, several North Dakota counties, including Cass and Stutsman, are among the top counties in the nation in soybeans. And, as of July 18, soybeans are being crushed in both of those counties. Green Bison Soy Processing in Spiritwood, east of Jamestown, began processing during the 2023 growing season. And North Dakota Soybean Processors on Wednesday, Aug. 7, celebrated its grand opening with a standing-room-only crowd that spilled out of a large white tent in front of the plant’s newly built offices. Burgum and Goehring were among a long list of dignitaries from the Casselton area and around the state of North Dakota who spoke at the celebration.
North Dakota Soybean Processors President Tom Malecha noted that at the NDSP groundbreaking in August 2022, Burgum had said the building of soybean crush plants represented a “tectonic shift” in the state’s two top industries: ag and energy. No longer would North Dakota’s soybeans just be shipped out for use elsewhere in the world. Now, they would be used by plants that provide jobs and economic benefits to communities while also making soybeans into new products that could be further used and developed in and around the state.
“This is a breakthrough for us,” Burgum said at the grand opening.
On time and on budget
A group of dignitaries from around North Dakota and the Casselton area in particular gathered around North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to cut a ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening of the North Dakota Soybean Processors plant in Cassleton, North Dakota, on Aug. 7, 2024.
North Dakota Soybean Processors is a joint venture formed by CGB Enterprises Inc. and Minnesota Soybean Processors. The facility has a 125,000 bushel-per-day capacity and plans to produce soybean oil, soybean meal and soy hull pellets. The company estimates it will process 42.5 million bushels of soybeans in its first year.
NDSP announced in 2017 plans to build in Spiritwood, North Dakota, but after a series of false starts, the Spiritwood Energy Park Association filed a lawsuit to cease an agreement with the company to build there, north of Interstate 94. After the lawsuit was settled, ADM announced plans to build a plant in Spiritwood , on the site of a former malting plant. Green Bison Soy Processing, a joint venture between ADM and Marathon Petroleum, celebrated its grand opening in 2023 .
“Today, we remain on schedule to complete at the end of September, like we originally hoped for, and we’ve also kept the plant on budget, which was certainly one of our key tactics as we went through the build, today, we remain on schedule to complete at the end of September, like we originally hoped for, and we’ve also kept the plant on budget, which was certainly one of our key tactics as we went through the build,” Malecha said.
In his comments at the ceremony, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., noted that projects of that scope require a lot of cooperation from a lot of people and entities.
“There are very few places where it seems, at least to the outside, everybody pulls in the same direction,” he said.
While building is not entirely finished, the plant took its first load of beans on July 18.
“We wanted to make sure that the grain system was ready to handle not only the physical part of the soybeans, but also the accounting, the paying and all of that,” Malecha said.
Like the Green Bison plant, the NDSP plant will offer a variety of contracts that can give farmers more options for marketing their soybeans year-round.
“This is going to be a 365-day-a-year market for soybeans. So we’re going to take beans every single day of the year. We operate 24/7 for the entire year. So we’re here all the time, providing a very stable and competitive market for the farmers’ soybeans,” Malecha said.
Jim Thompson, chairman of the North Dakota Soybean Council, has contracted some soybeans to the plant for spring delivery. Thompson farms between Page and Ayr in northern Cass County, and NDSP will be a little farther than the Arthur Companies elevator in Ayr where he typically has — and still will — market some beans. But he likes the idea of having multiple places and ways to sell.
“It’s going to provide a better level of competition for your commodity. I think you’ll see a lot of guys be creative in their marketing plans now, not just rely solely on harvest delivery, but maybe some standard marketing plans to, you know, get the most out of what they can out of their commodity,” he said.
NDSP will produce soybean oil, soybean meal and soy hull pellets. The soybean oil, Malecha explained, will go to both food customers including potato blanchers and for use in renewable fuels. The soybean meal is a premier feed for poultry and pork and also is used for dairy cattle, pet food products and fish markets. Soy hull pellets are a high-fiber feed that works in rations for dairy cattle and other ruminants.
“So if you think of within the state of North Dakota, expanding livestock agriculture is very important to the long term success of our plant, but also to the success of the communities around us,” Malecha said.
During his comments at the grand opening, Thompson explained that NDSP will multiply “the usability and consumer demand for these products made right here at home.”
“As the U.S., North Dakota and the world get more efficient at soybean production, we’re continuing to look for and develop new markets for uses for soybeans,” Thompson said. “So everything from biodiesel, renewable diesel, new industry, food uses — anything we can do to use up soybeans domestically, it’s in order to compete better in the world.”
Speakers at the grand opening noted that the burgeoning soybean crush industry in North Dakota will have far-reaching impacts.
“This has an impact all over the world,” Goehring said. “If you drive or eat, you had something to do with this.”
Matt White, general director of agricultural products at BNSF Railway, said the railroad no longer is just hauling whole soybeans to the Pacific Northwest. Now, the products range from the whole beans to each of the components produced at the crush plants.
“We look forward to the opportunity that this presents to our railroad and the role that this plant plays within it,” he said.
In addition to offering more uses for soybeans and an additional market for farmers, Malecha said NDSP plans to be active in the Casselton area. The plant already has hired the 75 people it needs to operate and will hire more, he said.
“We really support the local communities that we’re in, and we want to be that partner that they look to and say, this was a great establishment of a business for everybody throughout the community and through the state,” Malecha said.
