The Ag Innovation Campus (AIC) has begun the first phase of construction of its soybean crush plant, and results can already be seen with a concrete building standing on the corner of Ingersoll Ave. and Highway 75.
During the month of June, Ag Innovation Campus Acting CEO Tom Slunecka reported that they have completed the hardest part of the phase so far with contracting and securing all of the grain handling equipment and electrical equipment during these times of inflation and delays. “We’ve been able to contract and secure all of the grain handling equipment and electrical equipment that goes inside the building, and in today’s world with inflation and delays because of COVID and all of the changes in the world, that’s been one of the hardest parts to nail down and make sure that we had to secure,” Slunecka explained. “Parts that you would normally see with the availability of three or four weeks are out to 40- and 60-week lead time with some of these parts.” Along with the equipment, the campus has put up a large concrete building that is built up to certain specifications of a food-grade plant to meet the standards of today’s food plant regulations. Slunecka reported that the building is made of concrete given by Wells Concrete and will be standing for many years.
With most of the concrete building now standing, Slunecka reported that the building would be completed at the end of the week. They will begin pouring the foundations for the grain handling equipment, which will be coming in the fall, with them adding a new building where the delivery trucks are dumped and weighed with the grounds for them will be cleaned and prepped later in the summer. Afterwards, the plumbing and electrical work will begin inside the building during the fall and will be a while before any major changes are seen on the building. “Depending on the electrical components and their availability, our target is to be crushing soybeans next spring, and if we can move that up sooner, we will, but on a project this large, it’s really hard to set those timelines because there are so many factors that are outside of our control,” said Slunecka.
Once the crush plant is completed and operational in the Spring of 2023, Slunecka says that there will be a delay in the beginning of construction on the second and third phases of the campus. The second phase will be an office center built on the south side of the crush facility, and the third phase will be a research facility built on the west side of the plant. “What makes this complex so unique is the ability for visitors to come in and get through the crush plant safely and not interrupt production, and we’ll have a lot of training going on,” Slunekca explained. “We hope that this center becomes a place for workforce development and people trained here will be able to have jobs all over the country or the world in all different types of processing plants.” Slunecka mentioned that due to them being a not-for-profit organization, funding will be an issue for the future phases and will be depending on State, Federal, and private entities to step in to help make them happen, but he is confident in their support as they have been great supporters to it so far.
Pictures of the building can be seen below. You can see the campus’s construction yourself by going to the corner of Ingersoll Avenue by Highway 75, across the street from Titan Machinery. To learn more about the campus and see a video of what the Crush Plant and Campus will look and operate like, you can go to aginnovationcampus.org and click on About. To learn more about how you can help the AIC, you can contact the Ag Innovation campus at 218-275-2750 or email them on their website.
