Wisconsin Ag Connection - Mor-Agra Grain to Build 4.5 Million Bushel Grain Elevator

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Mor-Agra Grain to Build 4.5 Million Bushel Grain Elevator
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 07/15/2009

Mor-Agra Grain is hoping to cash in on the resurgence of rail as the most viable method of transporting grain to market. The group is building a grain elevator on 16 acres along the railroad operated by the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad in Linn Township. The elevator would store 4.5 million bushels of grain and fill about 50 trains, or 1,250 rail cars, per year.

"We're converting truck traffic to rail traffic," said Jake Polyock, who would manage the facility. "We're building this elevator on speed and efficiency. We're capable of handling large amounts of grain in a short amount of time."

The new facility will join a network of Mor-Agra elevators in Poplar Grove, Illinois and Caledonia, Illinois, and Afton--none of which has rail access.

The new facility will work in conjunction with an existing facility on the property, but the rail-based elevator will be used to move the majority of the grain.

The existing elevator has a capacity of 260,000 bushels of grain and fills about 400 to 500 trucks a year, a number that slowly has declined in preparation for building the new elevator. The new elevator will have a capacity of 4.5 million bushels of grain and fill about 50 trains a year.

Polyock said the entire project wouldn't be built for another 10 to 30 years, depending on its success.

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