CANADA – Great Plains MDF announced it has selected a site for its greenfield wheat-straw based MDF plant, has added two industry veterans to its team, and has formed an alliance with a construction firm.

The company informed that the plant will be built in Kneehill County in Alberta, Canada. The site, which is between Three Hills and Trochu, will house the proposed production facility and storage of wheat straw. The site is approximately 90 km from Red Deer, AB and 140 km from Calgary, AB.

The Great Plains development plan will see Great Plains pursuing permitting with all the appropriate regulators (Government of Alberta, local municipality) in the coming months with construction expected to begin in the fall of 2021.

Great Plains Innovations is the parent company of Great Plains MDF – Three Hills, which will build, own and operate the mill. Great Plains Innovations intends to build a series of similar facilities across the Canadian prairies and elsewhere over the next 10 years. Great Plains MDF reports it has spent years researching and developing a process to make high quality medium density fiberboard out of agrifibers, using no-added formaldehyde.

Great Plains MDF also announced the appointment of two MDF veterans to its sales and operations teams. Lanny Hammock will serve as Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, while Wade Gregory will serve as Vice-President, Operations.

Earlier, Great Plains MDF announced it has signed a partnership agreement with PCL Construction toward the building of the wheat straw MDF plant.

Great Plains and PCL expect to complete their pre-construction work over the next few months.

PCL is a group of independent construction companies that carries out work across Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, and in Australia. Together, these companies report an annual construction volume of CAD 9 billion, making PCL the largest contracting organization in Canada.