Cargill buys unfinished Fort Dodge ethanol plant

Minneapolis-based Cargill announced Thursday, March 31, that it has purchased Tate & Lyle's corn wet mill ethanol plant in Fort Dodge.

The Messenger of Fort Dodge is reporting that Cargill paid $57 million for the facility.

“We believe that a highly efficient, well-located corn wet mill ethanol plant fits well into our bio-product portfolio,” said Alan Willits, president of Cargill Corn Milling North America. “We see an opportunity in Fort Dodge to replicate the success we have had at our Blair, Neb., and Eddyville, Iowa, bio-refinery campuses.”

The Fort Dodge plant is a corn wet mill ethanol facility that London-based Tate & Lyle began constructing in September 2006. Construction was halted in March 2009 as the market for ethanol declined with falling gasoline prices.

The Fort Dodge facility has the ability to grind 150,000 bushels of corn each day and produce 115 million gallons of ethanol per year.

“The corn wet mill ethanol plant will provide the base load corn grind for the campus, and we hope to support additional business growth in the coming years,” Willits said. “When completed, Fort Dodge will be a world class bio-refinery campus that will produce ethanol and other bio-based products.

“We will achieve energy and operational efficiency while respecting the environment and natural resources, as we have in Blair and Eddyville.”

Cargill, which operates three grain processing plants in Cedar Rapids, expects to employ about 100 at the Fort Dodge plant when production is running at capacity. Gov. Terry Branstad said the plant also will provide an alternative market for local corn farmers.