NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US — A new report from Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO) has determined that the planned construction of a $400 million export grain terminal by Greenfield Holdings will create 371 new jobs in the community with annual labor income of more than $26.5 million per year.

Greenfield first proposed plans for the terminal two years ago, but the project has been met with resistance from area activists who claim the terminal would be too close to the town and could lead to environmental and other hazards. In its new report, the GNO said that when at full capacity and under the proposed $400 million in capital expenditures, the construction of the proposed grain elevator “will have a major positive economic impact on the economy in Louisiana, driving jobs, income and tax revenue.”

GNO is the regional economic development organization for the 10-parish Greater New Orleans region. The organization conducts in-depth market research and analysis, including, but not limited to economic impact studies.

Last year, Greenfield Louisiana said the 36-silo, 248-acre export terminal would employ 60 people in barge, dock, rail, truck, storage, processing and elevator operations for wheat, corn and soybeans.

Greenfield Louisiana is an export grain elevator that expects to move more than 11 million tonnes of agriculture products, primarily corn, wheat, and soybeans with some throughput from other locally grown specialty crops, to the export market. Products will principally be transported via barge on the Mississippi River or the inland waterway system to the new grain elevator, where they are unloaded, stored, cleaned and then loaded onto an ocean-going vessel for export.