The joint venture Demeter Enterprises, LLC, which includes Cargill Inc. had a press conference and community informational meeting Thursday in the Holiday Inn. The meeting was to introduce details of the new ethanol plant which will be built at Linden.
Demeter Enterprises, LLC is a joint venture between Cargill Inc., Fagen Inc., United Bio Energy, Inc. and AS Alliances, LLC. Demeter is building three ethanol plants, including the one in Linden. The other two sites are in Bloomingburg, Ohio, and Albion Neb.
Bill Henderson, executive director of Montgomery County Economic Development said they are very excited to have Demeter in the county.
"This will have the biggest impact on our community since Nucor Steel came into our town," Henderson said.
Steve Durham, chairman of AS Alliances, said the joint venture between the companies will make Demeter the second largest ethanol producer in the United States. Ron Fagen, founder of Fagen Inc. was recently inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in enterprise. Fagen Inc has built more than half of all U.S. dry mill ethanol production plants and two-thirds of all U.S. production plants in the last five years, Durham said.
Peter Schram, central Indiana farm service group leader for Cargill, said the production facility would produce more than 100 million gallons of ethanol per year. It will produce 315,000 tons of dry distiller grains (DDG) per year. Ethanol is a renewable fuel source produced from corn, sorghum and wheat. It is used primarily as a gas additive, which burns cleaner than methyl tertiary butyl, and is a cost effective octane enhancer. Brian Thome, director of financial investments with Fagen Inc, said the corn is fermented and distilled to create the ethanol and DDG. DDG is a co-product of the ethanol production process and can be fed to animals.
"We remove the starch from corn and exterminate it and the byproduct is a high protein feed," Schram said.
Typically, DDG is about 20 percent of the production plant’s revenue. The plant will employ approximately 58 full-time employees including engineers, operators, inventory control specialists, electricians and lab assistants. The estimated salary per year is $45,000 excluding benefits. Annual operations will increase corn prices by five- to ten-cents a bushel, which will help farmers.
Thome said construction on the $110 million plant is planned for the end of this summer and will take 14 to 16 months to complete. The plant is scheduled to be in full-scale production as early as the end of 2006. Fagen, Inc. believes strongly in hiring local contractors to build its plants and Thome said the construction process will create about 1,000 temporary jobs. In the period leading up to the plant opening, Thome said there will be job training available for some positions. Schram said Demeter also will try to recruit from Purdue University and other Indiana schools.
Approximately 100 county officials, farmers, contractors and local citizens attended the informational meeting. Schram, Durham, Thome and Henderson answered questions from the audience about the plant.
A neighbor expressed concern about the emissions from the new plant. Thome said the dry mill ethanol process has significantly less emissions than other plants. The plant will use the highest technology possible to keep the air clean.
"We’re here to be a good neighbor," Thome said.
The amount of increased traffic on U.S. 231 is another concern. Schram said Demeter is hoping 70 percent of the products will be transported by rail and hopes to limit truck traffic to one or two days a week. Demeter is conducting a traffic study before making any roadway decisions. The Indiana Department of Transportation has been very receptive to possible changes, he said.
The work cycle compared to other factories and plants in the county was another question. Schram said the plant will run 24 hours a day for seven days a week. Plant management will make that decision later on, he said.
This was the first in a series of informational meetings Demeter Enterprises, LLC will have in Montgomery County. Gene Blanton, a farmer, said he thought the presentation was pretty good and will help farmers in the county. Mickey Schenck, also a farmer, said he was hoping the price per bushel would be a little higher. He said he is optimistic that might change in the future.
"It’s going to make it more competitive with the processors. Processors are gonna want it, ethanol producers are gonna want it so that may help price wise," Schenck said.
"Only time will tell."
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