New investment into Dakota Growers aimed at improving efficiency

8th Avenue Food and Provisions, parent company to Dakota Growers, will soon begin work on a multi-million dollar investment to their Carrington, N.D. facility.

Since purchasing Dakota Growers in 2018, 8th Avenue Food and Provisions has grown to become one of the largest suppliers of pasta in the country, and the company is now looking to continue its growth by investing locally.

The upgrades to the Carrington site, totaling $2 million, target the grain grading and truck scaling operations, and will add more than 4,500 square feet to the existing facility.

"Essentially we are upgrading our grain grading, truck scaling, and communications systems incorporated in the farmer grain delivery process," explained Dakota Growers Plant Manager Jason Jarrett. "The improvement is targeting the ability to complete the process in less time so we reduce the time the farmer is spending on site."

As the process currently exists, farmers delivering grain to Dakota Growers can expect a 90-minute wait before going back to their farms on a busy day. The additional scale will allow farmers to do their weighing away from the existing scale and where they currently dump their grain, helping reduce the wait to 45 minutes or less.

"We're purchasing an additional commercial grain scale, so truck traffic will utilize the new scale and weigh in as they come to the site with their load, dump the grain at the existing facility, and then weigh the empty truck on the new scale," explained Jarrett.

Meanwhile, the new grain grading structure will feature an improved probing system, allowing for safer sampling of grains to be tested for protein, moisture, foreign materials, and other factors that can impact the quality of pasta.

In addition to a safer grading process and less time on site for growers, the upgrades will benefit Dakota Growers by improving the capacity to process more grain.

"The improvement project doesn't impact employment numbers, but it does improve efficiency. For us, it's better utilization of our talents," said Jarrett. "In this case it helps farmers who are delivering grain to be more efficient ... and that's really what we're trying to drive for improvements, not just for us, but also for the producers."

Jarrett added, "As a company, we are interested in being a viable option for farmers to market their grain. We have recently worked with Bushel Inc. to release an application which producers can access via mobile device to review pricing, contracts, and scale tickets, related to their grain deliveries."

The engineering and design portion of the project has already been completed, and Dakota Growers is now seeking final bids from potential contractors, with the goal of having the updated and expanded operation functional by July 2022.