Perdue’s proposed soybean plant is |
EPHRATA, Pa. -- The Ephrata Area Young Farmers will be hosting an educational meeting featuring Perdue Agribusiness on their proposed soybean storage and processing facility in northwestern Lancaster County. The speakers will be explaining how a processing facility works and will talk about how this plant could affect the local soybean market and what affect it might have on farming operations.
This meeting is open to the public and will be held in the Ephrata High School Cafeteria, 803 Oak Blvd., Ephrata, on Tuesday, March 26, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Perdue’s speakers will include: Adam Zell, the plant manager who will narrate a power point presentation on the workings of the crush plant; Wayne Black, Perdue’s chief environmental officer who will discuss the environmental implications of the plant; and Richard Cole, Perdue’s Pennsylvania grain merchandising manager who will discuss local, national and international grain markets.
Perdue Agribusiness has been crushing soybeans to produce soy hulls, soy meal and soy oil for more than 50 years. Perdue is in the final permitting stages to construct and operate a soybean crushing plant in Lancaster County near Bainbridge. The plant, which was proposed in 2011, is to be built on land adjacent to the county’s incinerator. The excess steam produced by the incinerator will be used to power the soybean processing plant.
The operation should provide the following: a local soybean market for Pennsylvania; a local source of soybean meal for feeding animals; and a reduction in transportation costs.
Pennsylvania farmers in 2012 produced almost 25 million bushels of soybeans and Perdue’s plant will have the capacity to process 17.5 million bushels of soybeans.