---

In 2013 Sanger-based Pitman bought the Cargill feed mill and yard along the BNSF rail line, and now has completed a unit-train loop line to bring in Midwest grain and other products.

In the meantime, according to permit activity, the company is adding more buildings, including a new 80,000 square-foot commodity building, a 7,200 square-foot warehouse as well as a crew building and new boilers. They have a “big plan“ on the site, said Hanford City Manager Darrel Pyle.

The 110-acre project is a “major investment in our community,” said Jay Salyer, economic development manager for the Kings County Economic Development Corp.

Hanford is in “the center of their poultry growing region,” he said, adding, “this is a hub that feeds a regional industry.”

Salyer discussed the ag-based industry at a recent EDC board meeting, showing pictures of the new construction along the outside of the new rail loop.

”We see new silos that will hold corn, the commodity building underway and construction of a soybean mill that will extract oil and grind out product,” Salyer said.

Pitman is also looking at uses for the land on the inside of the loop. The company provides feed for both conventionally grown and organically raised poultry, and the feedstock must be kept separate.