Northants Advanced Processing Centre Gets The Go Ahead

Camgrain is to build a new Advanced Processing Centre (APC) to serve farmers and food and drink processors across the East Midlands.

Sited near Kettering, the APC will target a wide range of local consumers with high quality, vendor assured food grade grain, with the first phase operational for harvest 2012.

The construction project has received grant support worth £4.39m from East Midlands Development Agency (emda) supported by funds from the Rural Development Programme for England. It is also backed by local farmers and leading farmer-owned grain marketing business, Openfield.

`Work will now commence at the 19.5ha site, of the construction of a facility that is long overdue in this area and which will be a major benefit to the region`s farmers,` he said.

`At a time when farm stores are becoming outdated and consumers are very keen to source from a central facility, the Northants APC will provide wheat, barley and oilseed rape of food ingredients` quality directly into the premier markets for malt, milling and breakfast cereals.

`Food processors will have the confidence to draw upon local grain of assured quality and food safety, with full traceability. The APC will be able to deliver grain to food grade standards ensuring vendor-assured high specification ingredient delivery.`

Camgrain chairman, John Latham said that the Northants APC would be a much needed missing link in the UK grain supply-chain. `This is the first time that a strategic grain storage and processing facility has been directly sited to suit end-user needs as well as those of local growers.

`The Northants APC will be the most powerful grain drying and intake plant in the UK, a modern, forward looking option and we are delighted to be working with local growers to deliver a facility that meets their needs. Another bonus will be the innovative use of energy reduction technology.`

For Openfield managing director, Tim Davies, the venture was a key component of the company`s strategy of delivering a service that had the scale and structure to meet modern grain supply needs.

`Camgrain are UK leaders in the development of Advanced Processing Centres and the delivery of enhanced supply chain management. We are pleased to partner with them, backing their expertise, in a project that will benefit farmers across the East Midlands.`

`The Northants APC will fulfil our ambition to have a state of the art storage and processing facility for farmers within the strategic cluster of East Midlands` food manufacturers. In addition, it will help to reduce the carbon footprint of UK food producers, linking in to a UK-wide central storage network that continues to grow and flourish,` predicted Mr Davies.

Facilities at the Northants APC will be more powerful that Camgrain`s South Cambridgeshire APC facility which will include a 20,000 t/day intake. It will also feature a fine cleaning facility to meet internationally recognised British Retail Consortium food standards.

Once the new APC is completed, Camgrain will become one of the UK`s leading suppliers to the food and drinks sector operations converting over 500,000t of grain every year into process ready ingredients.

Further information from:-

Philip Darke - Tel 07889 493510