OMAHA, NEBRASKA, U.S. — Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) opened its 10^th soybean processing facility and it is scheduled to begin commercial operations by the end of July.

The facility is located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S. and will be able to process 50 million bushels of soybeans annually when fully operational.

“The Aberdeen processing facility is a great fit with our overall business platform and with our mission to provide markets for producers’ soybeans, add value to those soybeans and generate competitive returns for our cooperative owners,” said Keith Spackler, AGP’s chief executive officer (CEO). “These returns include direct support to soybean prices as well as patronage payments to our cooperative owners. We are proud of the benefits it brings to our member-owners and their farmer-owners as well as to this community, county and state – that is our culture.”

The soybean processing expansion is a natural extension of AGP’s processing and refining capacity and relationships in the region. AGP selected the site in Aberdeen based on numerous factors, including a readily available supply of soybeans, a stable workforce, solid infrastructure and transportation capabilities. The facility will support 60 full-time employees.

“AGP built this facility to provide protein and oil to growing domestic and international markets,” said Cal Meyer, AGP’s chief operating officer (COO). “We will buy large volumes of soybeans in the area, supply soybean meal to regional feed mills, load unit trains of meal destined for export markets in the Pacific Rim. Additionally, we will ship crude soybean oil to our existing refineries to supply expanding food and renewable fuel markets. Overall, this facility is well-positioned to meet this growth, while also providing good jobs, good pay and excellent benefits to over 60 families in the Aberdeen community.”

During the facility opening, Brad Davis, chairman of the AGP board of directors spoke about the original investigative work and feasibility study that was undertaken and presented to the board, which allowed it to make the decision to move forward on the project. Davis also highlighted the relationships AGP has built with state and local economic development officials and critical construction partners throughout the project.

“The city of Aberdeen, Brown County and state of North Dakota have all been excellent to work with and have been instrumental in helping AGP get where we are today,” Davis said.

AGP is an agribusiness with primary operations as a major U.S. soybean processor/refiner producing and marketing soybean meal, refined soybean oil, and biodiesel. AGP businesses also include agricultural product trading in domestic and international markets and numerous U.S. grain elevator operations. According to the 2019 Grain & Milling Annual, AGP has 44 grain facilities and 102 million bushels of total licensed grain storage capacity. It also has 23 country elevators and 15 processing plants. AGP is owned by local and regional cooperatives representing farmer producers across the U.S.  Its corporate headquarters is in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.