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Anheuser-Busch to Close Moorhead, Minnesota, Malt Operations

Nov. 18, 2024

The brewing behemoth says it is rebalancing the company’s malting footprint with this move.

Anheuser-Busch plans to shut down its Moorhead, Minn., malting plant and sell grain elevators in West Fargo and Sutton, N.D., according to news reports out of the region. Grain typically headed for the Moorhead plant will be redirected to Rahr Malting Co., the company told the news outlets.

The Moorhead facility has been turning barley into malt and shipping it to A-B brewing operations for 46 years. That barley will now be processed in Shakopee, Minn., at Rahr’s facility.

Anheuser-Busch has been investing millions into upgrading various brewery operations across the country over the past year, including projects in Cartersville, Ga., Williamsburg, Va., Los Angeles and its legacy operations in St. Louis, Mo. But the company said to the news outlets that this move was required to “rebalance the company’s malting footprint.”

The number of workers at the Moorhead facility was not clear, but one news report said that about 40 people worked at the plant in the past.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.