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Wednesday groundbreaking for Ag Innovation Campus in Crookston

Members of the Minnesota Soybean Growers, area farmers, and elected officials including Governor Walz took part in a ground-breaking ceremony for the Ag Innovation Campus in Crookston Wednesday.

MSGA president Jamie Beyer, who farms near Wheaton, tells Brownfield the project will have a major impact on both farmers in northwestern Minnesota and the community.

“They’re going to be able to add quite a few jobs with that project, and then also lower the basis up there too. Yesterday was an exciting day.”

She says the goal is to eventually have 300 employees as the crush facility grows.

“You can build the Ag Innovation Campus, and then add on sort of modules to it and become a hub for businesses that we have yet to even imagine. We had growers yesterday that were already excited about growing specialty soybeans.”

The Ag Innovation Campus aims to produce about 64,000 tons of soybean meal, crushing about 8,000 bushels of soybeans per day.  That would equate to 2.5 million bushels per year, or 61,000 acres of soybeans.

Beyer says the target is to begin production by October of next year.