Blue Mountain Seeds, a grass seed production company near Imbler, has bought a neighboring seed cleaning facility previously owned by Barenbrug USA that was damaged March 31 by fire.

Barenbrug, a fellow grass seed company based in the Willamette Valley, decided not to rebuild its 50,000-square-foot plant south of Imbler, and instead reinvested in its property on Marine Drive at the Port of Morrow in Boardman.

Bill Merrigan, general manager of Blue Mountain Seeds, said the move allows the company to expand and make use of greater storage space. He did not disclose the amount of the sale.

“We were right at capacity, both cleaning capacity and storage, and we were out of land to build on,” Merrigan said. “We viewed this as a good opportunity.”

The company is already storing seed at the undamaged west end of the facility, and Merrigan said they hope to install a new seed cleaning line by next year’s harvest.

The move adds another 2.5 million pounds of storage capacity for Blue Mountain’s Kentucky bluegrass and fine fescue at the former Barenbrug plant. Depending on how much of the facility gets rebuilt, it could provide up to another 2.5 million pounds of capacity.

“We may not rebuild that facility the way it was,” Merrigan said. “We may put up a new building or we may try to change the design of that building. That is something we are discussing right now.”

Meanwhile, Barenbrug has since added space and a third seed cleaning line at its Boardman plant, though CEO James Schneider said they’re not abandoning the Grande Ronde Valley.

“We still have a field man based there and we are contracting directly with growers there. But we are now cleaning that seed in Boardman,” he said.

Schneider said he is pleased with the sale, which allows both companies to invest in future growth.

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Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825.