Landus Cooperative announced Monday the completion of a $27 million project to increase soybean processing capacity by 50 percent at its SoyPlus® manufacturing facility in Ralston. SoyPlus is an industry-leading high bypass protein dairy feed ingredient used in dairy rations across the world.
The expansion creates demand for an additional 6 million bushels of soybeans each year for a total of 20 million bushels annually. The facility has created 11 new fulltime, family-wage positions.
As a farmer-owned cooperative, Landus Cooperative originates soybeans from its membership of more than 7,000 farmers in Iowa and parts of Minnesota. The cooperative estimates nearly 50 percent of all soybeans purchased from farmers this year at its nearly 70 grain locations will be processed into SoyPlus at the Ralston plant.
“We are proud to create greater demand for our area growers’ soybeans and, in turn, help meet the growing domestic and international demand for SoyPlus,” said Landus Cooperative’s chief executive officer Milan Kucerak.
“This project demonstrates our commitment to long-term investments in value-added products for the benefit of our farmer-owners, dairy customers, and local communities alike,” Kucerak added. The cooperative has manufactured SoyPlus for more than 30 years.
“We have the unique ability to purchase locally-grown beans and share them with producers across the country and world in the form of dairy feed,” said the cooperative’s chief animal nutrition officer Mark Cullen. “We take pride in our ability to turn our local commodities into something that serves agricultural communities globally.”
Due to strong domestic and international demand the manufacturing facility had been producing at maximum capacity for more than a year, prompting the major, multi-year investment in the cooperative’s Ralston plant.
Since announcement of the expansion in June 2015, the project has progressed according to schedule and is processing new crop beans. The original plant operating in conjunction with the expansion allows for an annual production of 575,000 tons, of which 15 percent is exported.
Contractors included Ames-based companies Todd & Sargent and ACI Mechanical of Ames, as well as Interstates of Sioux Center. At least 110 construction jobs were supported by the expansion. Click here for more photos.
To learn more about the value-added dairy feed ingredients manufactured by Landus Cooperative, visit dairynutritionplus.com.
