NORFOLK, Neb. (KTIV) - Norfolk Crush celebrated its grand opening, Thursday, May 29, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Over 100 people toured the new facilities and met members of the Norfolk Crush team. The new facility sits on 480 acres just north of Norfolk and employs 58 people.
Norfolk Crush's President and CEO, Chad Spohn, is happy to see the growth in the company and its employees.
"Eighteen months ago I was employee number one, said Spohn. "We had to get to employee number 58, and it's a lot of people learning a lot of new jobs, new technologies. It's a big ask and a big challenge and the Norfolk Crush team rose to the occasion."
Jordan Micek, who works for Norfolk Crush, said he is proud to be part of the first crew at the new facility.
"It was a cool experience being part of a startup," said Micek. "Being able to watch the place being completed in construction, to slowly commissioning everything, to watching the Fagen guys that built this place drive away. And that was our crutch that we leaned on for a long time and then it's it was our time to shine and it's our place now. And just the pride that everybody has here, it's neat. "
The plant crushes over 100,000 bushels of soybeans every day.
The governor of Nebraska, Jim Pillen, attended the event along with U.S. Senator Deb Fischer.
"Agriculture is who we are," said Pillen. "Agriculture drives every ounce of our economy, and this is a big key to value-added agriculture."