A southwestern Ontario grain elevator is set for expansion — and for upgrades that will clear the road for more expansions.
Agris Co-operative recently announced plans for $2.15 million in improvements at its elevator site at Thamesville, Ont., about 75 km southwest of London, including construction of four new steel bins, boosting its capacity to over 700,000 bushels.
The upgrades, expected to be complete in September in time for the fall harvest, will “significantly improve storage capacity and traffic flow” at the site, Agris said, in part through removal of some existing storage.
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The new layout, the co-op said, “improves flow and allows future storage expansion and intake capacity as market conditions dictates.”
The upgrades will “help strengthen our farmer-owners’ ability to take better advantage of marketing opportunities through our grain company, Great Lakes Grain,” the co-op’s board president, Jim Maw, said in a release.
“These improvements will allow us to utilize the Thamesville elevator to its capacity, giving us added volume for wet grain,” Don Kabbes, market development manager for Great Lakes Grain, said in the same release.
The upgrades, he added, “will enable us to receive greater volumes throughout the harvest period, allowing our member-owners to move the crop more efficiently.”
Great Lakes Grain, a grain merchandising partnership between Agris and U.S.-based ag co-operative Growmark, is one of the biggest operators of country elevators in Ontario. — AGCanada.com Network
