The North Dakota Industrial Commission has approved $8.3 million to upgrade scales in the truck unloading facilities at the North Dakota Mill & Elevator in Grand Forks, Neb., the Grand Forks Herald reported this week. The project is expected to speed up four pits, reducing waiting time by about 35% per day.

The company will begin taking bids and expects construction to start this summer. Completion is expected in 2021.

The North Dakota Mill & Elevator Assn., the only state-owned milling facility in the U.S., has eight milling units and produces and ships 49,500 cwt. of milled products daily. In addition, the mill ships more than 14,000 cwt. of food-grade bran and wheat midds daily. The facility cleans, processes and mills more than 100,000 bu. of North Dakota wheat daily. On an annual basis, the mill adds value to 34 million bu. of spring and durum wheat.

The terminal elevator has a storage capacity for 4.3 million bu. of wheat, and it blends, cleans and transfers wheat to the seven milling units. The facility also provides wheat storage to farmers, country elevators and government agencies.

The North Dakota Mill & Elevator said it is currently pursuing new marketing strategies to achieve desired profit levels. The new marketing strategies include increasing branded product sales, targeting bakery customers that prefer superior-quality flours with excellent uniformity and purity and aggressively marketing new products at the retail and foodservice levels.