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OPPORTUNITY S OY P R O C E SS O R A D DS VA LU E TO I OWA S OY B E A N S BY BETHANY BARATTA
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hen CHS Inc. announced plans to close its soybean crushing facility in Creston, it was the perfect opportunity for Michigan-based Zeeland Farm Services, Inc. (ZFS) to expand into Iowa. “When this became an opportunity, it fit right in, plus it gave us another footprint farther west in Iowa,” says Eric Meeuwsen, the plant’s general manager. In April 2018, ZFS announced its purchase of the plant, a soybean processing facility, soy flour mill, grain elevator and non-GMO soybean inventories. The business now operates as ZFS Creston, LLC. Founded in 1950 as Meeuwsen Produce and Grain, ZFS began primarily as a produce transportation company, and over the years evolved to include many other agricultural services. In 22 | DECEMBER 2019 | IASOYBEANS.COM
1996, the company expanded into soy processing when it opened Michigan’s first soy plant. The family-owned company also operates business units in grain storage and merchandising, feed ingredients, biofuels marketing, commodity exports and seed. Meeuwsen said the company saw potential in the Creston facility. “We looked at it as a similar-sized processing facility to the one we run in Michigan,” he says. “It’s the same technology and same type of customer base, so it fit into our business model.” Gavilon Grain, attached to the plant, provides both GMO and nonGMO soybeans for the processor. ZFS processes those beans into soybean meal, soybean flakes and soybean flour for use in a variety of products. ZFS Creston
processes 800 tons of products per day. “We can make soybean meal for animal feed and soy flakes and flour that can be further processed into food products for human consumption,” Meeuwsen says. “Their customers are making frozen desserts and other products out of soy — things I didn’t know could be done,” says Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) District 8 Director Warren Bachman, who spoke with company officials during a presentation there this summer. ZFS Creston began production in August 2018 after building its customer base and re-establishing the plant’s connections to customers who had sought other business opportunities after CHS closed. “It’s a growing business, and plant
