Co-op plan 2 Shuttle loaders

December brought announcement of plans for two additional shuttle loading elevators to be built in this area.

Cooperative Producers, the operator of the Ruskin elevator and other businesses in this area including convenience stores in Superior and Nelson said it will build at 5-million-bushel grain facility along Highway 14 east of Harvard. The site of the new grain handling facility is served by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad mainline. The location is one mile north of the Highways 6 and 14 north junction in Clay County.

The Clay County News reported last week, the facility will initially consist of a building capable of storing 3-million bushels and two one-million bushel bunkers. It will be built on the south side of the BNSF tracks. There are plans to add shuttle train loading capability..

Construction is expected to start late winter or early spring with the goal of being ready for the 2023 fall harvest.

The Belleville Telescope reported last week that Central Valley Ag plans to construct a dual purpose facility along Highway 36 north of Courtland. The site will be served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.

The concept calls for a circle railroad track with the capability to load 110 railroad cars of grain or unload 70 railroad cars of liquid fertilizer. It is anticipated the facility would ship grain from Courtland to the Gulf via Texas or New Orleans. It also has the potential to ship to the Pacific Northwest. Most likely, most of the grain shipped from Courtland will go to Mexico.

This week’s Courtland Journal newspaper contains public notice of the cooperative’s request to issue Industrial Revenue Bonds to fund the project.

The bonds will give the company a 10-year property tax abatement and a sales tax exemption on materials used to construct the facility. A public hearing on the bond issue is slated for Jan. 9.

Plans are to build the facility in phases over the next 10 years with the first grain accepted in the fall of 2024. When completed the total cost is expected to be between $60 and $90 million. The first phase will include construction of the 8,500 foot loop track and the construction of a grain facility to hold 2.5 million bushels.

The second construction phase will include the addition of a bulk fertilizer facility with 4.5 million gallons of storage. In the third and four phases two flat storage buildings, each capable of holding 3 million bushels of grain, are to be added.

The cooperative plans to continue operating the current downtown Courtland elevator located on the former Rock Island railroad track but the use may change. The company’s elevator at Scandia will likely be closed when the new Courtland elevator becomes operational. The current Courtland elevator was purchased from Hansen-Mueller 15 years ago.