VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – What does the expected announcement of construction of the soybean processing plant by the North Dakota Soybean Processors near Spiritwood, ND mean for soybean producers in Barnes County?

The short answer is it will convert a large portion of our soybean sales from a foreign export market to a domestic local processing market.

The longer answer is more complicated and involves possibly building storage, extending operating loans, trucking to deliver beans at scheduled times and changing loan payment schedules. Unlike the export market that takes in most of the soybeans at harvest, soybean processing plants are designed to have soybeans delivered on a daily basis.

Soybean growers that want to take advantage of price incentives for the later delivery dates will need storage to hold the soybeans until delivery.

The capacity of the soybean processing plant will be 125,000 bushels per day or more than 40 million bushels per year. Barnes County normally plants about 350,000 acres of soybeans each year. Assuming that 30 bushels per acre would need to be stored before delivery to the soy plant, we would need storage for 10.5 million bushels. For each one thousand acres of planted soybean’s we will need a 30,000 bushel grain bin. That’s 350 grain bins if each one holds 30,000 bushels. I’m not suggesting that we will build 350 grain bins but I use this example to show the need for additional storage.

Barnes County soybean producers that are interested in capturing price incentives for delayed delivery should start the planning process now so they are ready when the plant starts operating in 2020.