Growth Spurt - Landus Upgrades Six Central Iowa Facilities

Aredale, Britt, Greene, Hamlin, Rippey, Yetter

Britt, IA

At Britt, IA, Landus in 2022 decided to build a standalone elevator to the south of its existing 1.062-million bushel concrete and steel train-loading elevator.

The plan, according to Vinsand, was for the new elevator to handle corn and the existing elevator to handle soybeans. While the site can load 50-car unit trains, Vinsand says the elevator also utilizes truck freight to move grain to nearby feed mills and ethanol plants.

The new elevator consists of a Macon Construction hoop storage building, a Sukup corrugated tank, overhead loadout tank, three legs, two tower dryers (one a new 7,000-bph Sukup model and an older one was moved from the existing elevator) and a receiving pit.

Macon Construction was the prime contractor on the project and additional millwright work was done by B&E Construction. Global Bin Builders was the steel tank erector. Mid-States Design & Engineering, formerly Moeller Engineering, provided structural foundation design for the tank and the two dryers. VAA provided the structural design for the support tower. Dirt work started in April 2023, and construction of the building started in May. The facility was completed in October in time to receive the fall harvest.

Macon Construction designed and constructed the Sioux Steel Pro-Tec hoop-style building, the company’s sixth at the time for Landus. It measures 180-feet-x-684-feet and holds 4 million bushels of corn. It includes Macon Construction’s MaconMaximizer™ technology that attaches the fabric roof underneath the building’s steel roof trusses to allow grain to be stored higher than the top of the 18-foot cast-in-place concrete sidewalls, increasing storage capacity by up to 30%.

The new elevator includes a pair of truck receiving pits that feed two 20,000-bph GSI bucket elevators. The legs are housed in a 18-foot-x-18-foot-160-foot Macon Construction support tower with switch-back stairs. Once grain is elevated it is spouted to a 40,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor that fills the hoop structure. The building is emptied by a 20,000-bph below-ground AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor back to the legs.

Besides feeding the hoop structure, the legs feed a 30,000-bph Riley Equipment drag conveyor, supported by a 6-foot-x-60-foot APEX Industrial catwalk, that fills a new Sukup 250,000-bushel corrugated tank. The 72-foot-diameter tank stands 95 feet at the eave and 113 feet overall. It also has an APEX 8-foot-x-8-foot-x-8-foot bin peak support.

The tank has four 40-hp Sukup fans providing 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration for corn. The tank has a 12-cable AGI CMC grain temperature system, Vega radar-type level indicators, and a 10,000-bph Sukup paddle-type bin sweep. The tank sits on an 8-foot stem wall with a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above ground tunnel.

Grain is reclaimed by a Brock Grain Systems 20,000-bph drag conveyor back to the legs. The dryers are filled by a 20,000-bph Riley Equipment drag conveyor which is supported by a 6-foot-x-80-foot APEX catwalk. A 6-foot-x-10-foot-x-130-foot APEX tower supports the catwalk. The dryers empty into a Schlagel 20,000-bph dry leg equipped with Tapco 20x8 CC-HD elevator buckets. The dry leg fills the Macon hoop building.

A 1-million bushel temporary storage pile sits between the existing grain elevator and the new facility.

Greene, IA

In 2022, Landus in partnership with third-party engineers, deemed that the coop’s concrete elevator in downtown Greene, had reached a point of obsolescence and could no longer be safely utilized. According to Vinsand, the coop discontinued the use of the 300,000-bushel concrete elevator and began to replace it with a new elevator 1 mile north of town where the company had two 825,000-bushel temporary storage piles.

The coop hired Buresh Building Systems, Hampton, IA, in early 2022 to start what turned out to be a two-year project to build a new 1.8-million bushel elevator.

Construction at the site started in April 2022 with the construction of a Sukup 105-foot-diameter steel tank standing 99 feet at the eave and 120 feet at the peak. The 737,000-bushel tank has outside stiffeners and is 91 feet to the eave and 120 feet to the peak. It has six 50-hp Sukup centrifugal fans providing 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration for corn and 12 roof exhausters. It has 24 AGI CMC temperature cables and Vega radar-type level indicators. Global Bin Erectors erected the tank.

The project also included a second receiving pit at the site with a 20,000-bph Sukup bucket elevator inside an 18-foot-x-18-foot-170-foot APEX Industrial support tower with switch-back stairs. The leg fills the tank through a 20,000-bph Sukup drag conveyor.

Grain is reclaimed by a 20,000-bph Sukup drag conveyor in a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot high above-ground tunnel running back to the leg. A Sukup 10,000-bph paddle-type bin sweep assists with cleanout.

The project was finished in time for the 2022 fall harvest.

Buresh returned to the site in April 2023 to add two more Sukup steel tanks, one adjacent to the 105-foot tank and the other to the south of the leg tower. A C&A Scale 40,000-bph bulk-weigher for loading trucks -- and eventually railcars – also was installed.

One of the two tanks, measuring 105-feet in diameter, is identical to the tank built in 2022. The other measures 72-feet in diameter. This 362,000-bushel Sukup tank has outside stiffeners and is 99-feet to the eave and 117-feet to the peak. It has four 40-hp Sukup centrifugal fans providing 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration for corn and five roof exhausters. It has a 12-cable AGI CMC grain temperature system and Vega radar-type level indicators. The tank sits on an 8-foot stem wall with a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above ground tunnel.

A second 20,000-bph Sukup bucket elevator with Maxi-Lift 18x8 elevator buckets was added inside the leg tower. The second 105-foot tank is filled by a combination of a Sukup 20,000-bph drag conveyor and a 40,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor. The smaller tank is filled by a Sukup 20,000-bph drag conveyor. That conveyor also extends toward the temporary storage pile with a relocated Brock Grain Systems 20,000-bph enclosed belt conveyor filling the pile

Grain from the tanks are reclaimed back to the legs via 20,000-bph Sukup drag conveyors. There is also a Sukup 10,000-bph paddle-type bin sweep in each tank to assist on cleanout. A front-end loader is used to reclaim grain from the temporary storage pile.

A 40,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor in a 10-foot-wide-x-172-foot-long Sukup catwalk and supported by a 10-foot-x-12-foot-x-100-foot Sukup intermediate support tower moves grain to the new bulkweigher.

Landus will complete in late August 2024 a rail trackage project so that the elevator can begin to ship 25-car unit trains on the Iowa Northern Railway to nearby processing plants.

Hamlin, IA

2022 and 2023 were busy years for Landus’ Hamlin, IA elevator.

The site, consisting of two 730,000-bushel Brock Grain Systems steel tanks, both built in 2010, and a 200-foot-x-400-foot 2-million bushel flat storage building, started a transformation in March 2022 when Landus and AMVC, the ninth largest U.S. pork producer, announced a collaborative agreement to build a new 400 tpy feed mill on the north side of the elevator.

Through the partnership, AMVC owns and operates the feed mill with Landus originating grain. The feed mill, built by Empire Ag, was finished in December 2023.

While the feed mill was under construction, Landus hired LandMarc Construction, Hawarden, IA, to build a new steel wet tank on the south end of the elevator.

LandMarc broke ground in March 2023 with Global Bin Builders erecting a Sukup 72-foot diameter steel tank.

The 387,000-bushel tank, with outside stiffeners, is 99 feet to the eave and 117 feet tall. It has four 40-hp centrifugal fans providing 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration for corn and with the assistance of five 2-hp roof exhausters. It has a 12-cable AGI CMC grain temperature system and Vega radar-type level indicators. The tank sits on an 8-foot stem wall with a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above ground tunnel.

To fill the new tank, LandMarc first added a 20,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor beside an existing 20,000-bph AGI Hi Roller conveyor that fills one of the elevator’s existing two 105-foot steel tanks, both built in 2010. They then installed a 40,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed conveyor, in a 9-foot-x-52-foot LeMar Industries catwalk, to fill the new 72-foot tank.

Reclaim is accomplished through an existing Essmueller 20,000-bph drag conveyor in a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above-ground tunnel. The tank also utilizes a Sukup 10,000-bph paddle-type bin sweep for final cleanout.

According to Vinsand, prior to the new 72-foot wet tank, one of the 105-foot tanks was used for wet grain storage. This caused problems with broken space in the wet bin and the need to sweep the bin during harvest to convert for dry corn storage. The new wet bin allows for the two larger tanks to hold dry corn with the smaller tank handling wet corn.

The project was completed by the end of August 2023.

Rippey, IA

In 2022, Landus traded one of its country elevators with a nearby cooperative to acquire a 1.075-million-bushel concrete and steel elevator in Rippey, IA.

After the acquisition, Landus decided the site needed additional storage, so they hired Mid-States Millwright and Builders, Nevada, IA, to add a steel tank.

The project, which started in June 2023 and was completed in October, included a Sukup 105-foot diameter steel tank, receiving pit, and grain handling equipment.

The 764,000-bushel corrugated tank, with outside stiffeners, is 95 feet to the eave and 124 feet tall. It has six 50-hp centrifugal fans providing 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration for corn and 14 roof exhausters. It has a 24-cable AGI CMC grain temperature system and Vega radar-type level indicators. The tank sits on an 8-foot stem wall with a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above ground tunnel. Global Bin Builders erected the tank. VAA performed the engineering for the steel bin and support tower foundations.

Adjacent to the existing 300,000-bushel concrete workhouse, Mid-States installed a new hopper-style receiving pit which transfers grain via a 73-foot Mid-States 10,000-bph drag conveyor with a 40-degree bend to a new Mid-States 10,000-bph bucket elevator with Maxi-Lift 12x8 CC-Max elevator buckets. The leg, braced to the concrete workhouse, fills the new tank via a 20,000-bph Brock Grain Systems belt conveyor supported by a LeMar Industries 9-foot-wide-x-152-foot-long catwalk and 6-foot-x-10-foot-x-135-foot Mid-States intermediate support tower. This conveyor can receive grain from the new pit and the existing pit for flexibility in site operations.

Grain is reclaimed from the tank via a Mid-States 10,000-bph drag conveyor inside a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above ground tunnel back to the new bucket elevator. There is also a Sukup 10,000-bph paddle-type bin sweep to assist with cleanout.

Yetter, IA

Like its Greene project, Landus had to replace an old 716,000-bushel concrete workhouse that experienced structural failure on March 1, 2022. Landus contracted Terminal Solutions, Radcliffe, IA, to demolish the concrete tank, a 1970's-era flat storage building, and a small round pile to make room for modernization of the facility. The coop then hired Buresh Building Systems, Hampton, IA, to replace the lost storage with three steel tanks and Macon Construction to build a hoop-style flat storage building.

Buresh started the project in January 2023 by demolishing an existing temporary storage system and flat storage building. In March, ground work started and the project was completed by December in time for corn harvest deliveries.

The new elevator is built adjacent to the site’s existing 1-million-bushel concrete train-loading facility. It consists of three new Sukup corrugated steel tanks and a Macon Construction Sioux Steel Pro-Tec hoop-style building, identical to the one built at Britt.

Two of the three steel tanks are 72 feet in diameter, one for wet corn and the other for dry corn. One measures 106 feet to the eave and 125 feet tall and the other is 110 feet to the eave and 128 feet tall. Each can store 400,000 bushels. The 60-foot tank is 110 feet to the eave and 125 feet tall. It can store 285,000 bushels.

Each of the 72-foot tanks has four 60-hp centrifugal fans and 12 AGI CMC grain temperature cables, while the 60-foot tank has two centrifugal fans with 11 AGI CMC grain temperature cables and Vega radar-type level indicators. All the fans provide 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration for corn. Each of the flat bottom tanks has a 10,000-bph Sukup paddle-type bin sweep. All three tanks are built on an 8-foot stem wall with above ground reclaim conveyors in a 7-foot-wide-x-6-½-foot-tall above ground tunnel.

Macon Construction designed and constructed the Sioux Steel Pro-Tec hoop-style building, Landus’ fifth at the time. It is 180-feet-x-684-feet and holds 4 million bushels of corn. It includes Macon Construction’s patented MaconMaximizer™ technology that attaches the fabric roof underneath the building’s steel roof trusses to allow grain to be stored higher than the top of the 18-foot cast-in-place concrete sidewalls, increasing storage capacity by up to 30%.

The project included a pair of new 80-foot-x-14-foot Rice Lake Weighing Systems truck scales installed by Siouxland Scale Service. There are two new receiving pits, one in an enclosed Behlen Mfg. 120-foot-x-175-foot-x-22-foot steel building next to the old concrete workhouse and the other next to the Macon Construction hoop building.

Grain received at the new pit next to the concrete workhouse empties into an existing 25,000-bph bucket elevator. That leg then empties grain into either a drag conveyor filling the existing concrete elevator or two Sukup drag conveyors—17,500 bph and 25,000 bph—that fill the 60-foot and 72-foot dry tanks. They can also transfer grain to a 40,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed conveyor that moves grain to the 72-foot steel wet tank or to the Macon Construction building.

The wet tank and Macon building can also be filled via a receiving pit next to the Macon building. This pit feeds a 20,000-bph Sukup leg with Maxi-Lift 18x8 elevator bucket enclosed in an 18-foot-x-18-foot-164-foot Sukup support tower. The leg feeds a 20,000-bph Sukup drag conveyor leading to the wet tank, or feeds a 40,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor filling the Macon building. Corn going to the Macon building is cleaned first by a 50,000-bph Innovative Ag Products gravity cleaner.

Corn from the Macon building is reclaimed directly back to the concrete workhouse for rail shipment via a series of 20,000-bph or 25,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyors. Corn from the wet tank is reclaimed via 20,000-bph Sukup drag conveyor back through the leg into the Macon Building or into the reclaim system under the Macon Building.

Wet grain is dried in a new 7,000-bph Sukup tower dryer adjacent to the wet tank and Macon building.

The facility can load 110-car shuttle trains on the CN Railroad.