Green Bison facility at Spiritwood transitioning to operations phase

JAMESTOWN — Officials with Green Bison Soy Processing plan to close the construction phase of the project and move to operations in the upcoming weeks, according to Mike Keller, president of Green Bison.

The project converted the former Cargill Malt facility, dedicated to producing malt for beer and other beverages, to a soybean crushing plant producing soy oil for biodiesel and soybean meal for livestock feed. Archer Daniels Midland Co. owns 75% of the new facility while Marathon Petroleum Corp. owns 25% of the operation.

“We had no surprises in the construction phase,” Keller said. “We are on time and on budget.”

The construction budget announced at the beginning of the project was $352 million with the plant scheduled to begin crushing and processing soybeans during the fall 2023 harvest.

The plant is located in the Spiritwood Energy Park Association industrial park about 10 miles east of Jamestown. It is located near the Spiritwood Station electrical and steam generation plant and the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy Ethanol plant.

Green Bison plans to begin taking deliveries of new crop soybeans as early as late September, Keller said. The actual processing is slated to begin in October with a planned capacity of 150,000 bushels of soybeans each day.

Keller urged producers and other soybean marketers to establish an account with Green Bison as soon as possible if they intend to sell soybeans to the plant.

“We are excited to provide a 12-month-per-year market for soybeans,” he said. “We do offer incentives to producers to store their commodities for later delivery.”

Dale Reimers, a farmer in the Jamestown area, said Green Bison could change the marketing of soybeans in the region.

“The incentives they could offer for delivering stored soybeans throughout the year could help a lot of producers,” he said.

Keller said the plant is well into the hiring process with “just a couple” positions left to fill. Plans call for between 75 and 80 employees working 12-hour shifts in a schedule of four days on and four days off to provide 24-hour-per-day operations.

Soybean oil produced at the plant will be shipped daily by rail to the Marathon Oil refinery at Dickinson for conversion to biodiesel. The plant also has the capability of shipping the oil by truck, if necessary.

The partnership could produce as much as 75 million barrels of biodiesel each year.

Soybean meal can also be shipped by truck or rail to livestock feeding operations. The plant will produce about 3,300 tons of soybean meal per day. If shipped by rail, this would constitute about 30 rail cars each day.

Keller said Green Bison has been asked to provide information to the state of North Dakota and Stutsman County for possible transportation planning in the vicinity of the plant.

Green Bison is the first soybean processing plant in North Dakota dedicated exclusively to processing soybeans and will be a major consumer of soybeans grown in North Dakota, according to Chris Broussard, chairman of the North Dakota Soybean Council.

“It will use roughly 25% of what is currently grown in the state,” Broussard said.

Broussard anticipates soybean acres potentially increasing in the state.

“As varieties improve, soybeans could move west and north in North Dakota,” he said.

And the soybean meal produced by the plant will also impact the livestock industry in the state.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a challenge,” Broussard said, referring to expansions in animal agriculture. “More of an opportunity for agriculture as a whole in North Dakota.”

Keller said a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Green Bison is anticipated in the next month although no date has been scheduled.