County funds safflower refinery feasibility study
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
A $16,000 feasibility study for building a safflower refinery by Safflower Technologies International (STI) in western McKenzie County has been funded equally by the McKenzie County Job Development Authority and the McKenzie County county commissioners.
Daniel Stenberg, McKenzie County Job Development Authority, told the commissioners on Tuesday, June 2, that the study would determine whether or not such a refinery is feasible. And if it was, the refinery would help diversify the county’s economy by creating value added crops to local producers.
According to Gerald Bergman, a part owner of STI, the company has already completed a feasibility study for a cold press processing plant for safflower and other oil crops, but the next step would be to see if a refinery is also feasible.