Cargill expands retail feed operations with new Washington facility
USA- Commodity trading giant Cargill is expanding its retail feed operations, constructing a production facility in Granger, Washington, US, focused on current and potential agricultural retail locations in the region.
Cargill broke ground on the project, which is under its Animal Nutrition business, in early May this year, with an anticipated operating date of fall 2024.
Cargill’s Animal Nutrition business has about 20,000 employees at 240 locations in 40 countries producing nearly 18 million tonnes of feed annually for a broad portfolio of feed products.
This new facility will bolster its feed production and retailing operations, gradually contributing to its strategic growth goals.
The Granger retail feed operation will be a standalone facility on the same site as Cargill’s bulk dairy feed mill.
The facility will house pellet mills, packaging lines, a spacious warehouse, office space, breakrooms, and locker rooms for employees.
According to Cargill, the facility will initially be capable of producing more than 125,000 tonnes of feed annually, which will be packaged and sold under Cargill’s Nutrena brand and many customers’ brands.
“The new Granger retail feed facility expands our existing retail feed footprint, enabling us to better serve our retail customers and their farm and ranch customers in the Pacific Northwestern region,” said Mariano Berdegue, regional managing director for Cargill Animal Nutrition – North America.
“As we seek to serve the needs of consumers where and when they shop, we are growing with retailers who are meeting those needs both in-store and online,” he added.
Cargill anticipates the new facility will bring 15 to 20 jobs new jobs to the local community, offer a new opportunity for local farmers to sell their crops, and eliminate more than 2 million truck miles and 5,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
In other news, Cargill is facing a first-ever legal challenge in the United States over its failure to remove deforestation and human rights abuses from its soya supply chain in Brazil.
However, the global grain elevator has promised to be “deforestation-free” in the Amazon and Cerrado by 2025 and completely eradicate deforestation from all its supply chains by 2030.
“We do not source soy from farmers who clear land in protected areas and have controls in place to prevent non-compliant products from entering our supply chains. If we find any violations of our policies, we take immediate action in accordance with our grievance process,” Cargill commented.
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