Seminal moments for rail-served grain facilities in U.S., Canada
10/20/2025
By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
A rail-served grain processing facility that’s been two years in the making in South Dakota now is officially open.
South Dakota Soybean Processors LLC (SDSP) and its subsidiary High Plains Processing LLC marked the start of operations at the multi-seed processing facility near Mitchell on Oct. 6. Served by BNSF Railway, the $500 million plant is designed to crush soybeans, sunflowers and other crops containing large amounts of oil.
The facility can process 35 million bushels of soybeans annually, or the equivalent of 1 million tons of high-oil content crops, according to SDSP. Operations will focus initially on soybeans, with plans to process sunflower, canola and camelina beginning next year.
It’s the first large-scale multi-seed processing facility in South Dakota, said SDSP CEO Tom Kersting in an email.
The facility is considered a key part of the supply chain for growing biofuels production in the region. In addition to producing soybean oil and soybean meal (for animal feed), the plant can refine seed oil into vegetable oil or soybean-based renewable diesel.
“The plant represents significant growth for [us] and new opportunities for high oil content seed processing in the state,” said Kersting.
Although operations began in early October, SDSP is in the process of ramping up production to full capacity, “hopefully by early November,” he added.
BNSF will be moving inbound and outbound traffic since the facility is situated along its mainline. But other railroads might become involved in SDSP’s transportation needs.
“We hope to be sourcing traffic off the Ringneck and Western Railroad and the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad, but neither short line will be directly serving the facility,” said Kersting.
In addition to producing soybean oil and soybean meal (for animal feed), the SDSP facility is designed to refine seed oil into vegetable oil or soybean-based renewable diesel.South Dakota Soybean Processors LLCMeanwhile, a large grain facility in Canada that’s served by two Class Is soon will have a new owner. Bunge Canada Inc. recently signed a purchase agreement to acquire the grain elevator assets of North West Terminal Ltd. (NWT) near Unity, Saskatchewan.
The deal includes the grain elevator and associated storage assets, while the fermentation and distillation facility will continue to be operated by NWT, an independent farmer shareholder-owned company. The transaction also does not include NWT’s minority interest in Alliance Grain Terminal Ltd. In Vancouver, British Columbia.
Served by CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, the grain facility near Unity features a total storage capacity of 63,000 metric tons, making it one of the largest grain-handling facilities in western Canada, according to Bunge Canada.
The purchase agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and the transaction is expected to close on or about Oct. 29. NWT shareholders will meet on Oct. 22 to vote on the transaction.
After it assumes ownership, Bunge Canada plans to integrate the high throughput facility into its grain asset network.
