WILMAR, MINN. (Jan. 6, 12:10 p.m. ET) — Major pipe extruder Prinsco Inc. plans to meet growing demand in the Midwest for agricultural drainage pipe by setting up a production plant in Fargo, N.D.
Prinsco will establish a temporary, two production-line drainage pipe operation in Moorhead, N.D., by mid-February while working on a larger, permanent plant in Fargo set to open late this year, according to a report from Agweek of Grand Forks, N.D.
The permanent plant will be housed in a 30,000-square-foot facility with room for four lines, although initial production will involve two lines, the report said.
The report provides details of Prinsco plans first announced last September when it said it wants to open an agricultural drainage products plant in the Fargo/Moorhead area in North Dakota in 2012. It also said it intended to upgrade other facilities to boost production of single-wall pipe production. The projects reflect a trend in Midwestern agriculture to more widely embrace strategic water management. In 2011 Prinsco built a pipe plant in Beresford, S.D., to serve growth in South Dakota and North Dakota.
The largest U.S. corrugated pipe producer, Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. of Hilliard, Ohio, said last year it too is expanding production. Last summer it said it would spend $10 million to hike output at its Midwestern factories making corrugated polyethylene pipe and similar products. The projects are to supply rising demand for drainage pipe for agriculture and infrastructure upgrading. Among ADS plants is one opened last year in Buxton, N.D., located in the Red River Valley, where Prinsco intends to establish its new operations.
Prinsco of Wilmar, Minn., runs other pipe extrusion plants in Fairfax and Prinsburg, Minn.; Chatsworth, Ill.; Jesup, Iowa; Bethany, Mo.; and Fresno, Calif.
Prinsco officials were unavailable to provide details of the current expansion programs.