IEO ownership changes

On July 3, the management firm that has operated Inland Empire Oilseeds for the past year, known as 1138, LLC, acquired 75 percent of the company from the original investment group that got the plant up and running. That group (consisting of the Odessa Union Warehouse Cooperative, Reardan Grain Growers, Reardan Seed, Greenstar, Michael Dunlap and Avista) retains ownership of the remaining 25 percent.

Joel Edmonds remains the general manager, the same position he assumed when 1138 took over its management role a year ago. Wally Kempe remains as the chief financial officer and Edmonds’ supervisor.

With the change in ownership status, IEO is now poised for a major expansion effort that will increase its processing capacity from the current 80 tons of canola per day to 400 tons per day. The plant currently employs 25 full-time workers and several part-timers. The full-time slots are expected to grow to 40 once the expansion is completed. The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the plant’s air-quality plans for producing as much as 10 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

Edmonds told The Record that he is pleased with the team of employees now in place and feels that they work well together. Nevertheless, IEO is always looking for good, steady employees to come on board as the need arises. Applicants must pass a drug test in order to be considered for employment. The plant continues to operate around the clock, so sometimes as many as seven people are required to cover a single position within the plant.

Much of the canola coming into the plant still comes from Canada, which this year is expected to produce a huge amount of the oilseed due to wet conditions over the winter. Local growers are cautiously coming around to the idea of planting canola as part of their crop rotation with wheat. Wheat prices climbing to $8 per bushel, however, makes farmers hesitate to try something new and, to some of them at least, unproven.

High wheat prices, Edmonds says, represent greater competition for canola processors than do other processors. The new food-grade canola-oil processing facility being built at Warden, for example, isn’t viewed so much as a competitor as it is considered another cog in the canola-industry machinery.

Canola prices have fluctuated wildly over the past year, and Edmonds says his fondest hope is for a more stable market compared to the wild ride he has experienced at IEO over the past year.