Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER
Jon Hart, president of Ag Source in Mifflintown, speaks with directors of Juniata Business and Industry, Inc. during their annual dinner Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the Port Royal Community Building.

PORT ROYAL — The Juniata Business and Industry, Inc. Board of Directors announced on Tuesday that Phase 4 of its development of Juniata County Industrial Park in Mifflintown is now open — offering build-ready industrial lots for businesses featuring paved roads, utilities and high-speed fiber optics.

Businesses looking to expand can purchase from 12 lots offered by Juniata Business and Industry, Inc.

The industrial park has been part of the local economy since 1973. Its first three phases consist of 28 businesses that employ more than 400 people.

Dane Walters, marketing director of Juniata Business and Industry, Inc., said the new phase is designed to attract both outside companies and local firms looking to grow.

“The main vision for Phase 4 is to bring companies in,” Walters said.

The available lots are 1.2 to more than 3.3 acres and are located at 287 E. Industrial Drive, Mifflintown.

The industrial park is designated as a Keystone Opportunity Zone, offering significant tax savings, including exemptions from PA corporate, property, and sales taxes, among others, for eligible businesses through Dec. 31, 2028.

Jon Hart, president of Ag Source LLC in Mifflintown, served as the keynote speaker before the board.

Ag Source was built to be a unified location for sourcing, trading, shipping, storage and delivery, according to Hart. The company aims to help clients find more economically efficient solutions to the challenges that arise when commodities move across states, regions and continents.

Ag Source is an agriculture and logistics company that buys and sells grain and other ingredients to supply people with the food they need.

The company finances and manages the import and export of containers, conventional and organic grain storage, port operations, transportation and logistics of agricultural products, with a specialty in calcium carbonate, fertilizers and specialty commodities.

Hart continued to explain various services Ag Source offers, including what they call elevators.

Elevators are storage facilities where farmers can take their harvest and staff at Ag Source store it, dry it, condition it and move it out when the market needs it.

“This is important to agriculture because it’s not just storage, it’s a market asset tool and if it did not exist, people would not be able to harvest as quickly. They would have to travel further.

“We are able to reach more buyers while also reducing friction,” Hart said.

Hart also explained Ag Source’s use for the carbonate mineral aragonite. With a processing plant in central Pennsylvania, Ag Source uses aragonite in various ways.

Drying and screening the mineral according to the specific application are ideal for calcium carbonate in glass production, given its very low iron content.

For power plants, aragonite is highly reactive for SO2 absorption and pollution control. Aragonite is also used in the fracking, oil cementing, and spill remediation markets, according to Hart.

Aragonite chips are more effective than traditional limestone because of their solubility, crystalline structure, and chemical purity. Aragonite chips help bolster egg quality and reduce breakage while promoting bird blood health and bone strength. Aragonite also contains strontium, which has been proven to repair and fortify bones.

“Damp aragonite is effective as an organic soil enhancer/PH adjustment tool,” added Hart.

Hart explains that Ag Source also operates its own fleet of trucks to handle aragonite and grain deliveries and that they can handle all transportation needs whether that be container drayage, trucking or rail.

Ag Source also offers import and export services along the East Coast, specializing in organic imports and conventional exports like soybeans and other feedstuffs.

“We operate a transloading operation inside the port of Baltimore,” shared Hart.