Following 26 years of serving as North Dakota Mill’s president and CEO, Vance Taylor’s last hurrah with the 104-year-old milling facility is right around the corner on July 3. 

For Taylor, the country’s 250th Independence Day will be one to remember as his first day with a new kind of independence. 

“It feels great,” Taylor said. “My wife and I are excited to spend more time with the grandkids and do some travelling.”  

While he’s looking forward to the next chapter, there’s no denying that July 3 will be a bittersweet day. 

“I’m going to miss the job,” Taylor said. “I’m going to miss the people here at the mill and the connections with the state and local government, who have both given a lot of great support over the years.” 

Before he landed in North Dakota, Taylor worked in various roles for ConAgra Flour Milling, which later merged with Horizon Milling to form Ardent Mills. He grew up in Manhattan, Kan., and attended Kansas State University where he earned a degree in milling science. 

“I didn’t grow up on a farm, but both of my parents had farm backgrounds, and I had uncles who farmed nearby,” Taylor said. “I had always been interested in agriculture.” 

Grind and shine 

Launching operations in 1922, the North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association was born to ease the financial burden on North Dakota wheat producers. At the time, Minneapolis was the primary market for North Dakota-grown wheat, but because of freight costs, farmers received a lower price for their wheat. The North Dakota Mill, which is the only state-owned milling facility in the U.S., solved that problem.  

“We exist to provide additional returns to farmers, and we do that by creating demand for more grain,” Taylor said. “This year, we’ll grind over 40 million bushels of spring wheat and durum.” 

Throughout his storied career at the North Dakota Mill, Taylor worked together with the North Dakota Wheat Commission to enhance the value of North Dakota-grown wheat.  

“Our region’s hard red spring wheat and durum have very unique and high value quality traits,” said Erica Olson, director of marketing and research at the North Dakota Wheat Commission. “The Mill has been integral in marketing the flour made from that wheat to high value markets across the country, providing opportunities to get our growers’ wheat in the hands of the right customers, bringing significant value to the region’s wheat crop.” 

Today, the North Dakota Mill is home to ten milling units, a terminal elevator and a packing warehouse. It produces and ships 60,500 hundredweights of milled products daily and processes and mills over 130,000 bushels of wheat per day. Every year, the Mill adds value to 40 million bushels of spring and durum wheat. 

“When I started working at the mill in 2000, our capacity was about 27,500 hundredweights, so 2.75 million pounds per day,” Taylor said. “Now we produce over 6 million pounds per day and have an expansion project in progress right now that will take us to 6.5 million pounds per day.” 

Throughout his tenure, Taylor oversaw several capital projects that increased the capacity and efficiency of the Mill, allowing for exponential growth. 

“We completed the 5,000 cwt per day C Mill project back in 2006 and expanded the K Mill through three different renovation projects around 2010,” Taylor said. “In 2017, we completed the G Mill project which was 11,000 cwt per day. The H and I Mills were added in 2023, and those projects added another additional 11,000 cwt capacity.” 

Because of its ability to process and store more wheat, the Mill has had to adjust its receiving process to accommodate the growth. With the terminal elevator’s storage capacity at 5.3 million bushels of wheat, the Mill receives 80 percent of its grain from elevators and 20 percent directly off the farm.  

“One of the hurdles we’ve had to find a solution for was long waiting times in the wheat delivery lines,” Taylor said. “We’ve sped up our unloading process to unloading over 200 trucks in 8 hours or less when it used to take 12 to 16 hours to unload 80 to 100 trucks.” 

Those improvements translated to rail, too.  

“It makes us more efficient on the rail side as well,” Taylor said. “Those projects also give us capability to unload shuttle trains when we need to pull wheat from further out west.” 

A people person 

People make a place and Taylor’s time at North Dakota Mill proved no different. 

“It’s a great group of people that we have here at the Mill,” Taylor said. “Everybody works really well together as a team to reach common goals.” 

Taylor’s connections go beyond the Mill’s gates. 

“It’s a very close-knit industry,” Taylor said. “So, I enjoy the people on the supply side working with farmers and elevators, as well as our customers in the baking industry.” 

With 80 percent of the Mill’s flour and semolina shipped on bulk rail cars and trucks and 20 percent of finished products packaged in bags ranging from 5 to 50 pounds for shipment via boxcars and trucks, Taylor has worked closely and built strong connections with the transportation industry. 

“Because we’re located in North Dakota and most of our customers are located on the east coast, transportation is a large part of our business,” Taylor said.  

Additionally, Taylor didn’t hesitate to welcome others to the Mill, offering his expertise and knowledge of the industry.  

“Vance was always open to assist with customer education and the number of trade teams and industry groups that toured the Mill over the years is impossible to keep track of,” Olson said. “There have been summers that the Commission was there on a consistent basis because Vance and his team was always willing to showcase the Mill, providing tours and education on the region’s wheat crop and milling attributes.” 

Outside of leading the North Dakota Mill, Taylor stayed engaged with the industry through participation in organizations, such as the Wheat Foods Council. 

“He knew the importance of industry involvement in national organizations and was a key supporter of the Wheat Foods Council,” Olson said. “I worked with him a lot through the Council and he always took the time to be at the meetings and provide input on domestic promotion efforts as he valued the importance of that work.” 

After 26 years, there’s no doubt that Taylor will be reminiscing on the connections he’s made with the people surrounding him for years to come as the North Dakota Mill welcomes its next leader, and he turns the page.  

“I’ve really enjoyed working at the North Dakota Mill,” Taylor said.