MONETT, MO. — LinkOne Ingredient Solutions and Agrocorp International announced a partnership Jan. 12 that will result in a joint venture connecting local farmers and farm products to food manufacturers and end users globally.

The joint venture company is called AgroLink, LLC, and will produce food-grade pulse ingredients out of a state-of-the-art grain elevator and processing facility in Cut Bank, Mont. The Cut Bank facility was previously owned by Pardue Grain and is already equipped with a pulse processing line and full stack cleaning, grading and bagging capabilities.

Other features of the facility include more than 400,000 bu of storage capacity, a 10-railcar siding on the BNSF main line, and an annual handling capacity of more than 1.5 million bu. The facility is also SQF Level 2 certified and USDA-Certified Organic.

“This partnership allows us to expand our current base of operations in pet food ingredients and provides a great foundation to increase our efforts in our emerging food ingredient business,” said Brad Riley, chief strategy officer at LinkOne.

Through AgroLink, LinkOne and Agrocorp International will leverage their relationships with US food and pet food manufacturers and global supply chains to identify markets for peas, chickpeas and lentils grown in Glacier County and surrounding areas.

The companies attributed its interest in pulses to an uptick in plant-based protein demand, citing consumer trends of meat-alternative and sustainable nutrition for people and pets alike.

“We are very excited about this partnership with LinkOne, as well as the opportunity to enter the US market,” said Vishal Vijay, director of strategic investments at Agrocorp International. “The facility in Cut Bank presents the perfect launching pad for AgroLink to become a leader in the US pulses market.”

LinkOne Ingredient Solutions was founded in 2019 when 3D Corporate Solutions, in business since 2002, divided into two organizations, with Link One to provide value-added ingredient solutions to pet food manufacturers, including marine products, fruits and vegetables, pulses, healthy grains and other ingredients.

Agrocorp International is based in Singapore and specializes in supply chain operations for agricultural commodities such as wheat, soybeans, cotton, pulses, edible nuts, rice and sugar. Agrocorp operates in 15 countries, including food processing facilities in Canada, India and Australia.

Read more about suppliers in the pet food market.