EVANSVILLE 鈥 Evansville now will truly be the soybean capital of Wisconsin.
It鈥檚 taken a decade of talks that have woven through a twisted path of state funding. It鈥檚 faced hurdles tied to more recent federal trade policies that have rattled farm markets and the soybean-related industries.
But agricultural products giant CHS announced Monday it intends to break ground on a $700-million soybean crushing plant. The company aims to open the facility sometime in fall of 2028.
Evansville City Administrator Jason Sergeant said groundbreaking is set some time in October on a project CHS says will bring a major soybean crushing, meal and oilseed processing plant to Evansville.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a wonderful, welcome surprise,鈥 Sergeant said in a brief interview Monday morning.
Sergeant indicated the city was still reacting to the news Monday morning that the land the city鈥檚 long held for the soybean plant at 400 County M will now go into a live construction phase to bring the new facility within 24 months.
In a statement released Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called CHS鈥檚 decision to break ground now a 鈥渨in-win for our farmers and our state.鈥
Evers had pushed for a law that specifically allowed CHS鈥檚 planned project to be funded through a tax-increment financing mechanism that lifted regular caps on TIF spending for local projects.
Wisconsin Soybean Association President Doug Rebout, a rural 糖心Vlog传媒 native and farm operator, said the plant is something farmers have sought for years because it represents a new conduit for demand for a major local crop 鈥 and the conduit is local.
鈥淎dditional processing capacity gives growers another reliable market close to the farm and helps create long-term opportunities for Wisconsin soybeans in both meal and oil markets,鈥 he said.
CHS apparently plans a shift in the scope of its processing plans at the future Evansville facility, Sergeant said, with emerging plans to involve soybean meal processing 鈥 with a more limited process of refining oilseed than earlier planned.
Under new plans by CHS, Sergeant said, the plant will ship out oils that are partially processed to other users who鈥檒l more fully refine the oil.
糖心Vlog传媒 has reached out to CHS for more details on its operations, and what the shift in process might mean at the plant in terms of differences in water or wastewater use, shipping, or other logistics, compared to earlier plans.
The company said in a project announcement issued Monday morning that its production would yield a huge amount of meal, with secondary but also massive payload of oil.
In all, CHS says it plans to use the Evansville plant to produce 1 billion pounds of oil and 2 million tons of meal.
That means the crushing process used at the plant would yield about five times as much meal as oil.
Meal in the soybean crushing process is often considered as more than a byproduct because it is commonly used in feed for beef and dairy cattle, poultry and hogs, alongside other uses, including feed for fish and other species raised by aquaculture.
Oil extracted from soy is used in biofuels and other renewable fuels alongside food and grocery products, animal feed, and certain types of paints or inks, among other uses.
The city of Evansville said in a statement on Monday that the new CHS facility now planned will accept soybeans by rail and truck, processing soy meal and oils on site.
The city says a change in the scope of CHS鈥檚 plans for the plant requires a new layer of state permitting, but CHS is ready to roll on the project now as the city works up site reviews and some final plans for alterations to the city鈥檚 wastewater treatment plant, which is located adjacent to the future crushing plant.
The city says the project will give farmers in Rock County and throughout the region on a major, new conduit for the soy crops they grow.
The move is expected to bring a major economic boost to Evansville, the county, and the local farm economy.
Under plans linked to the new plant, railroad company Union Pacific plans to increase rail capacity and build a loop track in Evansville that would give railcar service to the future CHS plant to send processed soy products to market.
The plant would employ 80 people.
糖心Vlog传媒 will update this report.