Grain farmers in Lewis County and surrounding areas will soon have a new grain storage facility complete with easy access to load train grain hoppers as construction is set to begin on the Southwest Washington Grain Project.
On Thursday, April 3, a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project’s publicly accessible rail transload facility was held by Port of Chehalis staff at its location Maurin Road in Chehalis.
They were joined by their collaborative partners, including the Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative and Northwest Agricultural Business Center, which weren’t the only partners, according to Port of Chehalis Executive Director Lindsey Senter.
The idea was the brainchild of the farmers involved with the Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative, who recognized Lewis County had land that could support grain farming, but lacked infrastructure to store and transfer it.
“To address this, Port of Chehalis designated the land that we stand on here today for this project, and alongside our dedicated stakeholders, we launched the Southwest Washington Grain Project,” Senter said.
By 2020, the port had obtained Lewis County grant funding and built a rail spur to at least allow farmers to load grain hoppers using temporary belt-operated conveyance systems.
Senter added that, since then, the port has received an additional $1.75 million in funding for the project from the state budget thanks to state Reps. Peter Abbarno and Ed Orcutt and state Sen. John Braun.
Recently, port staff — in partnership with the Northwest Agricultural Business Center, stakeholders and elected officials — were able to secure $3.14 million in U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration funding to begin construction of the publicly accessible rail transload facility, which will consist of upright grain storage bins and conveyors for loading and unloading grain.
“Once complete, the facility will have the capacity to store over 12,000 bushels of grain across multiple storage bins. The grain elevator will allow grain to be received by truck, stored and later transloaded directly into rail cars at an estimated rate of 7,500 bushels per hour,” Senter said.
On top of the Department of Commerce funding, Senter stated U.S. Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez. D-Skamania, recently ensured the Southwest Washington Grain Project was one of 15 identified projects getting part of $4.12 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant funding.
Senter also thanked other local partners, including the Economic Alliance of Lewis County and the local Washington State University extension programs.
“With this project, all I see is positives. To have a facility that will help the growers store their product, get it to their existing markets more efficiently, and hopefully expand their markets,” Port of Chehalis Commissioner Paul Ericson said.
Local farmer Jay Gordon joined the groundbreaking ceremony and thanked some of his fellow farmers who also helped get the Southwest Washington Grain Project get off the ground, including Mike Peroni and Dave Fenn.
“I just cannot say, on behalf of all of us farmers, how much we appreciate the support from the port,” he added.
To learn more about the Southwest Washington Grain Project, visit the Port of Chehalis’ website at https://portofchehalis.com/swwagp-faqs/.
