WINNIPEG — A long defunct oilseed crushing plant in North Dakota is set to reopen, with plans to begin processing canola in time for this year’s harvest.
The Northwood plant is situated 45 kilometres southwest of Grand Forks and 145 km south of the Canadian border.
It opened in 2007 as a soybean crusher under the ownership of Northwood Mills. The facility switched to processing canola in 2008 but was closed by January 2009 because of financial difficulties, according to reports at the time.
Prairie Premium Oil has bought the plant for “pennies on the dollar” and is now training employees, improving efficiencies and getting the plant operational, said company president Kent Weston.
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Investors in Prairie Premium Oil include many farmers, he added.
“We could fire the plant up today,” said Weston, noting that all of the equipment was still in place and only needed minor tweaks.
When fully operational, the plant will have the capacity to process 250 to 300 tonnes of canola per day, with the potential to switch to other feedstocks as well.
The focus will be on selling canola oil into the edible market, with specialty oils a possibility.
Weston said the company isn’t buying canola yet, but will start doing so within the next few weeks before increasing to full capacity in time for this year’s harvest.
Locally grown canola will likely account for much of the seed crushed at the plant, but Weston anticipated that it will also buy canola from Canada.
Farmers in North Dakota told the USDA in the spring they intended to seed 1.27 million acrs of canola, up from 920,000 acres last year, when excess moisture interfered with seeding.
In 2012 they seeded 1.46 million acres to the oilseed.
