By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH

Indiana Correspondent

EDGERTON, Ind. — Synergy Feeds officials hope to break ground in October for a new feed mill in Edgerton in eastern Allen County.

Construction should be completed by December 2018, said Brent Tracey, Synergy Feeds general manager. Company officials hope to serve customers inside a 70-mile radius of the new mill, customers in Indiana, south central Michigan and Ohio.

Tracey declined to divulge the cost of the mill. The facility will have the potential to handle 400,000 tons of feed annually in two shifts, he noted. Synergy manufactures livestock feed with a focus on dairy, swine and poultry.

Synergy, based in South Whitley, Ind., is a partnership between local cooperatives Ceres Solutions and Ag Plus. The new mill will be constructed next to an existing grain facility that Ag Plus purchased last year. The mill will have enhanced biosecurity and improved quality control, according to Synergy.

The company had been looking to add a feed mill for more than a year and a half, Tracey said. The Synergy board approved the project earlier this year.

“(Our facility) in South Whitley operates 24 hours a day, five days a week,” he explained. “If we didn’t expand, we would not be able to continue to grow our business. We had to zero in on when, where it would be.”

The site was chosen for customer proximity, the location of the current grain facility and existing utility advantages, Tracey said.

Synergy employs 32 companywide and the Edgerton facility should have four workers, he said. The new mill will be highly automated and current or contracted workers will handle transport, Tracey added.

Earlier this year, Synergy received a variance to change zoning at the site to commercial from agriculture. The company is working to obtain a tax abatement from Allen County.

The company is excited to reach this point, Tracey said.

“As we continue to grow our business at Synergy Feeds, and see the increased livestock production coming into our area, we have reached a level where increasing capacities is well-timed to keep pace with growing demands,” he noted. “This facility increases capacity over our successful South Whitley operation, and at the same time, creates operational efficiencies that we can bring to the customers we already serve, and will serve in the future.”

Edgerton is in Jackson Township and is primarily farmland, said Gloria Gerig, township trustee.

“We’re happy to see they’re coming in,” she said. “We’re a small township and don’t have a lot of businesses here other than farming. There are hog and dairy farms within the vicinity. I can see where they could do well here.”

U.S. Highways 24 and 30 are close to the area, making it attractive to companies, said Scott Harrold, senior economic development specialist for Allen County.

“Most of the people we deal with want good access to highways and interstates,” he said. “It’s not unusual for them, in looking at a site, to want to know if they’re within so and so distance from an interstate. It’s important for a distributor or manufacturer needing to get supplies in or their product out of the area. Certainly any development in the area is a good thing.”