Cargill to Expand Alberta, Minn., Grain Facility

The project also will include a new covered truck receiving area, increasing the unloading capacity to 55,000 bushels per hour from 25,000. That receiving area also will have more roadway into the facility, a double scale system and traffic logistics office.

3/4/2011 --- Cargill AgHorizons will increase its grain storage capacity to 3,430,000 bushels from 1,084,000 at its grain elevator here with the addition of six steel bins.

The project also will include a new covered truck receiving area, increasing the unloading capacity to 55,000 bushels per hour from 25,000. That receiving area also will have more roadway into the facility, a double scale system and traffic logistics office.

"All of these improvements will speed up the waiting times when our farmer customers bring crops to the elevator," said Andy Daberkow, AgHorizons Farm Service Center Leader at the Alberta elevator. "They will also greatly improve the traffic flow through the main streets of Alberta."

"At Cargill, we are committed to providing solutions that benefit our farmer customers," Jonathan Lopez, Farm Services Group Leader for Minnesota and the Dakotas. "These upgrades to our receiving and storage areas will allow us to provide faster and more efficient service to our customers, reducing the amount of time they need to spend away from their farm operations."

The expansion project is also linked to the facility's loading capabilities for the BNSF Railway. "The project will help us be more efficient in shipping product by rail to export facilities in the Pacific Northwest of the United States," said Lopez.

The expansion will be completed in time for the fall harvests. Cargill AgHorizons in Alberta handles corn, soybeans and wheat, with a full-service crop-inputs business providing seed, fertilizer and chemicals. Cargill has operated the grain business in Alberta since 1914. Cargill employs 23 people at its Alberta grain elevator.