By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Midland Marketing is building five additional grain bins at its facility at Toulon, which will increase the facility's capacity by 1 million bushels.
The current capacity at the facility, 2011 Highway 40, is 860,000 bushels.
The concrete bins will be 132 feet tall. The three larger bins will have a capacity of 220,000 bushels each, and the two smaller bins will have a capacity of 165,000 bushels each.
Wes Martin, Midland Marketing central area manager, said Toulon is one of Midland's busiest locations, and the expansion will eliminate the need to truck crops out of the facility or store crops on the ground during harvest.
Last fall, the facility took in almost 1.3 million bushels of crops.
The new facility will also be one of the fastest in Midland's network, Martin said.
"It is just going to flow better for our customers," he said.
Work on the bins began at beginning of December, and Midland hopes to have the project completed by wheat harvest in June. Martin said the construction has experienced several weather delays, but is still on track.
Hess Services is providing the concrete for the project, and McPherson of McPherson Concrete; HABCO Inc. of Salina, mill wrights; and Hammeke Electric are also working on the project.
Midland Marketing is also adding a grain bin at its Brownell location, which will expand its capacity by 450,000 bushels. Midland also hopes to have that expansion completed by wheat harvest.
The new bin will double the capacity at the facility.
