Facility Feature
CHS Erskine Rail Terminal Accommodates Increased Corn Acres
Overhead view of the new 1.8 million-bushel center fill-type temporary storage system supplied to the CHS rail terminal near Erskine, MN by Warrior Mfg. LLC shown shortly after its completion in 2017.
Minnesota location's upgrade to temporary storage system adds 1.8 million bushels of capacity
Erskine, MN — Hard red spring wheat once was king of the level plains in the northwestern corner of Minnesota. That began to change a couple of decades ago, as producers discovered that they could make more money with corn, and new short-season hybrids produced yields that made it worth their while.
“We’ve seen yields of up to 190 bushels per acre in this area,” says Doug Derosier, station manager for CHS’ 3.5-million-bushel rail terminal on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway outside of Erskine, MN. The terminal elevator, originally built in 2006 by a group of three local cooperatives and sold to CHS in 2008, is equipped with a loop track for loading 110-car shuttle trains bound for the Pacific Northwest.
As the volume of corn has grown over the years, the facility had to pile corn on the ground, says Derosier, who has been at the terminal for 10 years. The idea in 2017 was to upgrade the pile from what USDA calls “emergency” storage to a 1.8-million-bushel “temporary” storage system.
Temporary storage system among first for Warrior
CHS took bids and awarded a contract to Industrial Builders Inc., Fargo, ND (701-356-9827).
Industrial Builders, in turn, specified a center-fill temporary storage system designed and manufactured by Warrior Mfg. LLC, Hutchinson, MN (320-587-5505). A new product for the supplier, the Erskine system was one of Warrior’s first ever temporary storage installations.
Also on the roughly $2 million project, VAA LLC, Plymouth, MN (763-559-9100), performed engineering work, and Hope Electric, Hope, ND (701-945-2460), served as electrical contractor.
The new temporary storage system is 320 feet in diameter, with four-foot perforated steel sidewalls and a packed clay floor.
A Warrior 30,000-bph overhead enclosed belt conveyor and catwalk with Warrior tower supports takes grain out from the existing elevator to a center fill tower at the storage pile. A set of four 60-hp Rolfes@Boone centrifugal fans atop the tower supply air for aerating the pile and holding its tarp in place.
The system was completed a few weeks too late for the 2017 harvest. Derosier says that when it comes time to empty a pile, his crew will utilize front-end loaders and portable conveyors to get the job done.
Doug Derosier, Station Manager at CHS Erskine, MN rail terminal.
Company Profile, CHS/Erskine Rail Terminal
- Erskine, MN • 218-687-5400
- Built: 2006
- Storage capacity: 3.5 million bushels
- Annual volume: 14 million bushels
- Coop members served: 200
- Number of employees: 6
- Crops handled: Corn, soybeans, hard red spring wheat
- Services: Grain handling and merchandising, agronomy, precision agriculture
Key personnel:
- Doug Derosier, station manager
- Craig Bouffleur, grades and weights
- Deb Holland, bookkeeper
- Kevin Derosier, grain operations
- Kirk Fontaine, grain operations
- Willard Malwitz, grain operations
Supplier List
- Aeration fans • Rolfes@Boone
- Catwalks • Warrior Mfg. LLC
- Conveyor • Warrior Mfg. LLC
- Contractor • Industrial Builders LLC
- Electrical contrsctor • Hope Electric
- Engineering • VAA LLC
- Millwright • Industrial Builders LLC
- Temporary storage system • Warrior Mfg. LLC
- Tower support system • Warrior Mfg. LLC
- Ed Zdrojewski, editor
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL May/June 2018 Issue
Ground-level view of CHS’ rail terminal elevator near Erskine, MN, with new Warrior temporary storage system at right.
In This Issue
Grain Journal May/June 2018
View this feature and more in the Grain Journal May/June 2018 magazine.