Expansion creates more than 700,000 bushels of grain storage for Thamesville area producers

Investment and construction of four new steel grain bins for Great Lakes Grain site in Thamesville was formally announced last week by AGRIS Co-operative board president, Jim Maw.

The $2.15 million investment by AGRIS Co-operative will significantly improve storage capacity and traffic flow by removing some existing storage and adding additional storage. The new layout improves flow and allows future storage expansion and intake capacity as market conditions demand.

The expansion will make way for an additional 700,000 bushels of grain storage for the co-operatives member-owners and customers in the Thamesville area. “These improvements will allow us to utilize the Thamesville elevator to its capacity, giving us added volume for wet grain,” says Don Kabbes, market development manager for Great Lakes Grain. The expansion will allow the site to receive greater volumes throughout the harvest period, allowing the co-operative's member-owners to move the crop more efficiently.

The project is expected to be completed by fall harvest (Sept. 2014).

Media launch at  Great Lakes Grain Thamesville site on Dec. 12 with AGRIS Co-operative board of directors (L-R) Jim Anderson, Larry Pajot – board vice-president, Richard Tanner, Ray Simard, Dave Sherman, Jim Maw – board president, John Sauvé, Paul Repko – board secretary, John Nooyen, Stan Gillier, Kim Fysh. 

Great Lakes Grain is a grain marketing partnership between GROWMARK, Inc. and AGRISCo-operative Ltd. Great Lakes Grain is one of the largest operators of Ontario country elevators. It represents close to 440,000 MT (17 million bushels) of storage capacity with total marketing of more than of 46 million bushels serving farmers at more than 24 AGRIS Co-operative and FS PARTNERS branded locations from Windsor through to Toronto and north to Georgian Bay.