MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KAN. — Bartlett, a Savage Co., plans to build a soybean crushing facility in Montgomery County with a capacity of 38.5 million bus per year.

The new facility will produce soybean meal and refined soybean oil that may be used for renewable fuels, food products and animal feeds.

Construction is scheduled to start in early 2022 with operations starting in 2024. The new facility will create 50 permanent jobs and process about 110,000 bus of soybeans per day.

The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners approved county-issued industrial revenue bonds to support the development of the facility. The bonds make Bartlett’s estimated $325 million investment in the project possible.

“This is an important milestone for our project, enabling infrastructure investment in Kansas that accelerates the nation’s transition to a cleaner, greener and more sustainable transportation system,” said Bob Knief, president of Bartlett. “We appreciate the County Commissioners’ recognition of the long-term benefits this plant will provide by expanding markets for area producers and agribusinesses and driving economic growth in Montgomery County and Southeast Kansas. With strong demand for soybean products, we look forward to our crushing facility supporting farming families in the Midwest and playing a vital role in multiple supply chains, including renewable diesel production.”

With easy access to highways 160, 166, 169 and 400, the plant will create strong local demand for soybeans and provide a consistent and competitive source of soybean meal, hulls and oil for the feed, food and renewable fuel industries, Bartlett said. This project also will encourage rail improvements benefiting Southeast Kansas. The South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad, owned and operated by WATCO, will provide rail services for the facility, connecting the plant to a network of Class 1 carriers.

“Agriculture-based and renewable energy businesses are major economic drivers in Kansas, and I am extremely pleased to see Bartlett recognize just how ideal this location is for the future of their operations,” Kansas Governor Laura Kelly said. “Powered by Kansas’ outstanding infrastructure and talented workforce, I’m confident Bartlett’s new project will be a tremendous success and have a significant economic impact on the region and our state as a whole.”

Bartlett is part of the Savage family of companies, a global provider of industry infrastructure and supply chain services based in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

In addition to Bartlett’s planned soybean crushing facility in Kansas, Savage recently announced its newly completed multi-commodity railport near Stockton, Calif., that provides a gateway for the distribution of renewable fuels into California. Other projects, spanning all areas of renewable energy supply chains, are in various stages of development.