Two major investments in grain facilities

TWO major investments in grain handling and processing plants have been announced.

Both projects are in Angus and both emphasise the importance of cutting transport costs by locating in the centre of one of the main barley production areas of the country.

Bairds Malt is already the largest single maltster in Scotland with three major sites. It will spend about £30 million in increasing capacity at a new plant in Arbroath.

Bairds has been in the malting business for three centuries but growers will be more appreciative of the fact that the project will help ensure a market for the next 30 years – the expected lifetime of the plant.

Slightly further north, a group of grain farmers under the name Angus Cereal Partnership is to build a grain storage and drying facility at Montrose, with a capacity of about 90,000 tonnes. It will be linked by elevator to the Glenesk maltings at Hillside.