South Dakota Wheat Growers Cooperative

Industry: Farmer Grain Marketing RDP Investment: $15 million Launched: July 2007

Cresbard, SD – In early 2007, the South Dakota Wheat Growers (the project sponsor, SDWG) approached Rural Development Partners to provide New Markets Tax Credit financing to facilitate the construction of a harvest facility located in Cresbard, SD. SDWG used financing to provide construction of a 3.8 million bushel grain receiving station. The project acts as a high speed receiving station in a remote part of the state where farmers have little access to commercial storage and grain origination or transportation.

Prior to the transaction, some farmers were traveling as much as 50 miles to deliver grain. Farmers are now able to rent storage interests in the facility, deliver grain at harvest, and have SDWG market the grain on their behalf.

The facility also serves as a feeder origination house for regional farmer-owned bio-energy facilities such as the ethanol plants at Mina, Watertown, and Redfield.

Cresbard’s annual revenue stream of $11.2 million (as confirmed by SDWG) is estimated using IMPLAN to support 141 indirect jobs within the economic region of impact. These indirect jobs through hundreds of industries are supported by wages of approximately $4,935,000.

 

RDP Impact

1 direct position
141 indirect jobs

$110,000 in new
local, county, state and federal taxes

1.7 million bushels of grain were delivered to ethanol plants in 2009

The NMTC allocation allowed the firm to invest in larger-scale drying equipment, higher speed handling equipment, and more storage than would have otherwise been affordable or typical for a truck-house collection facility.

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