Alfalfa plant could bring 200 jobs to Lincoln
A Florida company says its plans for a northwest Lincoln alfalfa processing plant are on track — and it could eventually employ up to 200 people full time.
Southeast Ranch LLC announced in May plans to open the plant in the former Ace Hardware distribution center at 1200 W. Upland Ave., near the Lincoln Airport.
The Jacksonville-based company said at the time it expected to be open by mid-June. But as of this week, no activity was visible at the site.
Joel Gutierrez, president of Southeast Ranch, said that will change soon.
“As of 9 o’clock this morning they gave us the key,” Gutierrez said Tuesday.
Delays in getting the building’s rail line inspected and upgraded set plans back several weeks, he said.
Final details on the rail line are being worked out and, “by next week we’re hoping to have our first car rolling through there,” Gutierrez said.
The rail line is key to the company’s operations, because all the alfalfa it processes in Lincoln will be put on rail cars and sent to Jacksonville, where it will be loaded on ships bound mainly for Asia and the Middle East.
Gutierrez said the company hopes to start buying dry alfalfa hay from area growers this week.
Southeast Ranch will accept small square, large square and round bales from within a 250-mile radius of Lincoln and will send trucks to pick up the alfalfa.
The hay bales brought to the Lincoln plant will be chopped into 8- to 10-inch sections and pressed into dense bales that measure about 12 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet before being shipped out.
The company hopes to start installing processing equipment this week, said Neil Whitson, Southeast Ranch’s operations manager.
Whitson, who arrived in Lincoln Tuesday to oversee startup of the plant, said that process won’t take very long.
“We should be functional here very, very shortly,” he said.
Whitson said the company plans initially to hire about 30 to 40 people to work at the plant, which he said will eventually employ about 200 people.
The company will also be looking to hire around 50 truck drivers
Another company representative, who spoke to the Journal Star in early June, said the alfalfa compressing process was not labor intensive and the plant would only require about 15 full-time employees.
Neither Whitson nor Gutierrez could explain the contradiction.
But Whitson said the company plans eventually to have three shifts at the plant and operate 24 hours a day Monday-Friday, with small crews doing maintenance and cleaning on the weekends.
The plant will require machine operators, forklift drivers, supervisors and maintenance people, Whitson said, and he expects to start advertising job openings this week.
He also said the company wants to set up two or three dry storage warehouses in locations between Lincoln and Rapid City, S.D., where Southeast Ranch has another alfalfa processing plant.
Two cities Whitson mentioned as possible locations for those warehouses were North Platte and Sioux City, Iowa.
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
Southeast Ranch LLC announced in May plans to open the plant in the former Ace Hardware distribution center at 1200 W. Upland Ave., near the Lincoln Airport.
The Jacksonville-based company said at the time it expected to be open by mid-June. But as of this week, no activity was visible at the site.
Joel Gutierrez, president of Southeast Ranch, said that will change soon.
“As of 9 o’clock this morning they gave us the key,” Gutierrez said Tuesday.
Delays in getting the building’s rail line inspected and upgraded set plans back several weeks, he said.
Final details on the rail line are being worked out and, “by next week we’re hoping to have our first car rolling through there,” Gutierrez said.
The rail line is key to the company’s operations, because all the alfalfa it processes in Lincoln will be put on rail cars and sent to Jacksonville, where it will be loaded on ships bound mainly for Asia and the Middle East.
Gutierrez said the company hopes to start buying dry alfalfa hay from area growers this week.
Southeast Ranch will accept small square, large square and round bales from within a 250-mile radius of Lincoln and will send trucks to pick up the alfalfa.
The hay bales brought to the Lincoln plant will be chopped into 8- to 10-inch sections and pressed into dense bales that measure about 12 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet before being shipped out.
The company hopes to start installing processing equipment this week, said Neil Whitson, Southeast Ranch’s operations manager.
Whitson, who arrived in Lincoln Tuesday to oversee startup of the plant, said that process won’t take very long.
“We should be functional here very, very shortly,” he said.
Whitson said the company plans initially to hire about 30 to 40 people to work at the plant, which he said will eventually employ about 200 people.
The company will also be looking to hire around 50 truck drivers
Another company representative, who spoke to the Journal Star in early June, said the alfalfa compressing process was not labor intensive and the plant would only require about 15 full-time employees.
Neither Whitson nor Gutierrez could explain the contradiction.
But Whitson said the company plans eventually to have three shifts at the plant and operate 24 hours a day Monday-Friday, with small crews doing maintenance and cleaning on the weekends.
The plant will require machine operators, forklift drivers, supervisors and maintenance people, Whitson said, and he expects to start advertising job openings this week.
He also said the company wants to set up two or three dry storage warehouses in locations between Lincoln and Rapid City, S.D., where Southeast Ranch has another alfalfa processing plant.
Two cities Whitson mentioned as possible locations for those warehouses were North Platte and Sioux City, Iowa.
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
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