Archer Daniels Midland recently broke ground for the company’s new 85 million gallon biodiesel plant adjacent to its oil crushing plant at Velva, N.D. It will employ dozens in the construction phase and create 12 full-time jobs when operational.
The new facility will convert canola oil from the oil-crushing plant into biodiesel fuel, and use the equivalent of 1,000,000 acres of canola annually, adding further value to the crop. The oil-crushing facility has already helped to triple production of canola in the region by providing a local market for canola oil.
North Dakota passed a number of incentives last fall to attract biodiesel facilities to the state. These include, among others:
· A $400,000 Biodiesel PACE program, which will provide up to $650,000 in interest buy-down for a biodiesel plant, when combined with $250,000 in regular PACE.
· A sales tax exemption on all new processing equipment.
· An income tax credit for any fuel supplier that blends biodiesel fuel to the ratio of 5 percent, or B5. The credit equals five cents per gallon of fuel blended.
· A tax credit equal to 10 percent per year for five years of the seller’s direct costs incurred to adapt or add equipment to their facilities to enable them to sell the biodiesel blend.
The state also has an Agricultural Commodity Processing Facility Investment Tax Credit equal to 30 percent of the investment, up to a maximum of $50,000.
ADM has more than 290 full-time employees, and more than $165 million invested in production and grain facilities in North Dakota. The new Velva facility will increase that investment.
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