BISMARCK – The Ray Farmers Union Elevator Company will use a $1.49 million grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to assist with a dry fertilizer expansion.

The project will increase dry fertilizer capacity by 7,025 tons, to a total of 11,425 tons and benefit new and existing customers in Williams, Divide, Mountrail, Burke and McKenzie counties, as well as improve fertilizer supply logistics.

The USDA is awarding $83 million in 12 states for projects through the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program. The program provides grants to independent business owners to help modernize equipment, adopt new technologies and build production plants.

“Challenges within our country’s supply chain have impacted all of us, including our ag producers,” said USDA Rural Development State Director Erin Oban in North Dakota. “This nearly $1.5 million grant will assist the Ray Farmers Union Elevator in expanding its ability to serve farmers and co-op members in the entire northwest corner of the state and preventing those costs from being passed on to local producers and consumers.”