Crystal Valley announces a project to upgrade and increase milling capacity at its Vernon Center, MN, feed mill.
The project will increase milling capacity by approximately 75,000 complete feed tons per year. It is expected to begin in June and be completed in November.
The design consists of adding ingredient bins, a triple stack roller mill, a second set of loadout bins, upgrades to the existing receiving bay, and an additional scale.
The Vernon Center mill was completed in the spring of 2006 and has had many upgrades throughout the last 14 years to increase milling capacity.
This project will increase its capacity from approximately 145,000 tons to over 220,000 complete feed tons/year.
In related news, Crystal Valley will discontinue use of its Lakefield, MN, elevator and put the grain facilities up for sale at auction.
Roger Kienholz, general manager and CEO of Crystal Valley Cooperative, says the facility, which offers around 1.6 million bushels of storage, is not of the “necessary quality and condition for receiving, conveying, drying and storage of grain to meet our commercial standards.”
Jackson-based FCA Co-op purchased the grain elevators in Lakefield and Wilder in 2013 from the Heron Lake BioEnergy ethanol plant. FCA merged with Mankato-based Crystal Valley in early 2017, and the Wilder facility was sold in the summer of that year.
Crystal Valley operated the Lakefield grain elevator on a seasonable basis at harvest time the last two years, though it recently stopped drying corn at the location.
