USA: Cargill malt plant in North Dakota shuts down

The Cargill Malt plant in Spiritwood North Dakota, “went dark” at the end of October, completing a shutdown process announced in April. The company cited a change in the type of malt preferred by brewers as one of the reasons for the closing that cost the plant’s 55 employees their jobs, the Grand Forks Herald reported on November 4.

The malting process steeps barley or other grains in water. The grain then germinates to convert starches to sugars before the malt is dried. The malt can then be fermented into alcoholic products, such as beer.

The Spiritwood plant produced a variety of malts for large- and small-scale brewers. The plant also produced flour and cereal as byproducts.

An article about the plant’s closing last spring by the German publication Inside Beer called the Spiritwood plant one of the largest in the world, capable of producing 440,000 tons of malt per year.

Cargill may still be looking at repurposing the plant for another operation within the company, according to Connie Ova, CEO of the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp.

“We’ve had no new information since the (April) announcement,” she said.

When it made the announcement, Cargill said it would first look internally for another use for the plant before offering it for sale.

John Schneider, economic development and finance director for the North Dakota Department of Commerce, said there may be state funds available to explore potential uses, but requests would have to come from the JSDC.

Cargill also holds perfected rights to 4,180 acre-feet of water from the Spiritwood Aquifer, according to the North Dakota State Water Commission. This translates to nearly 1.4 billion gallons of water per year.

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