Roughly a year after the grand opening of the state-of-the-art Peltier Complex, the Northern Crops Institute (NCI) welcomed the public to an open house to celebrate another major upgrade, this time at their Feed Production Center. Located on the north edge of the North Dakota State University (NDSU), the Feed Production Center serves as a producer of feed for NDSU’s various livestock – such as dairy and beef cattle, swine and sheep – but also as a space for education, research and technical assistance for feed buyers and suppliers. The facility was built in 1990 and saw some upgrades in 2014, but thanks to support from the North Dakota State Legislature, NCI added new classrooms and labs, replaced its 1950s-era pellet mill equipment and upgraded ingredient storage capabilities.  

Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) Director Paul Freeman, who also sits on the Northern Crop Council (which oversees NCI), participated in the open house and took a tour of the updated Feed Production Center.  

“The improvements here show they’re investing for the future,” said Freeman, who farms in Pope County. “They’ve made some major updates to their equipment, and they’ve been working hard to improve their capabilities.” 

NCI is a collaborative effort among Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota geared toward supporting the promotion and market development of northern-grown crops. Those initiatives are achieved through educational programs and technical services with help from their many partners, including MSR&PC’s checkoff investments. The upgrades at the feed production center will allow for more space and expanded capabilities for those services.  

“We bring international participants with the help of U.S. Grains Council, U.S. Soybean Export Council and other groups that are trying to train on feed milling in international markets, so anything we can do to help sell the feed grains or coproducts that are produced in this region and sold internationally,” said NCI Director David Boehm. “We also do technical services as well, so working with ingredient and nutrition companies for the livestock sector that are trying to develop new formulas or processes.” 

During a short speech at the open house, NDSU Vice President for Agriculture Affairs Greg Lardy highlighted the importance of advancing uses and research for feed as the crush industry grows in the region.  

“Especially as you think about the advancements of the biofuels industry with the soybean crush and ethanol industries, and now more and more interest in sustainable aviation fuel, there’s going to be opportunities for those byproducts to be used in livestock feeds throughout the region,” Lardy said. “Having this facility here helps to be able to demonstrate to our domestic and international trade teams and the users of those byproducts how to more effectively use those byproducts and build the livestock industry across the region.”  

NCI Feed Mill Manager Shane Mueller led visitors on tours during the open house, where he showed the various upgrades and renovations, including their new crumble mill setup and the six new hopper bottom bins.  

“Words don’t explain how excited I am for these improvements to the facility, because not every day in the feed industry do you get the chance to play with new equipment,” Mueller said. “The upgrades are going to have a huge impact on this region for years to come, and I can’t say thank you enough to the legislative assembly who helped make this happen.” 

NCI also honored longtime former feed mill manager Dr. Kim Koch by naming the new classroom in his honor.