Cargill opens expanded $34m feed mill at Texas site
The Minnesota-based agri-giant announced the opening of the expanded facility on Friday [November 1]. Work on the site started in January 2018 and cost $34m in total.
A Cargill spokesperson told FeedNavigator: “Cargill chose to expand the Temple facility because of its location to our farm and ranch feed store owners as well as our beef feed customers."
The site is expected to lower transportation costs for regional customers and provide “increased manufacturing capabilities,” she added.
The refit saw additional space for manufacturing, warehousing, packaging and shipping, the company reported.
Feed market in Texas
The move to enlarge the feed manufacturing facility came after the company identified opportunities to grow the company’s ag retail and beef business in Texas, Cargill said when the project was first announced. There were indications of “strong demand potential.”
The additional production capability brings the facility’s manufacturing capacity of bagged and bulk animal feed to 500,000 tons annually, the spokesperson said.
However, the expanded site is set to produce a range of feed. “The facility is equipped to manufacture animal feed products for multiple species including beef, deer/wildlife, equine, and poultry."
The feed market in Texas is “central” to the company's animal nutrition business, noted Joe Comte, sales manager, Cargill. He said the facility will provide improved access to Cargill's Nutrena, Record Rack and other branded product lines for both farm and ranch feed store customers and the farmers they serve.
Along with the site in Temple, Cargill has 13 other locations in Texas serving its animal nutrition and health, grain processing and distribution, protein and starches and sweeteners businesses, the company reported. The agribusiness giant has more than 3,900 employees across the state.
Further feed mill expansion
In addition to the investment at the Texas feed production facility, Cargill recently announced it was expanding and modernizing an Ohio-based soybean processing facility.
The Sidney, Ohio site is set to see a $225m investment to improve crush capacity and the soybean delivery process, the company said. The modernized plant will be able to unload trucks at a faster speed.
The plant provides a “bulwark” for the company’s crushing and refining business, Cargill said.
The company also exchanged a set of grain handling facilities and grain elevators with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM).
In the agreement, ADM sold select grain facilities in Illinois to Cargill, while Cargill sold properties in Indiana.
However, Cargill’s expansion efforts this year have not all been focused in the US.
Earlier this year, the company spent $20m on its premix and supplement production facility in India and it is adding new premix facilities in China and Jordan.
