Port agrees to build Wilma

The Port of Whitman County and Hinrichs Trading, LLC, July 18 agreed to a 20-year lease for a warehouse on port property at the Port of Wilma.

The port will design and construct an 18,000-square-foot building. Total cost for the construction is estimated at $750,000.

Hinrichs will use the building to store, process and ship garbanzo beans.

Hinrichs will pay $3,120 site rent annually. Building rent will be seven percent annually of the port’s total costs for the warehouse to be built that includes architectural, engineering and design fees, permits, site work, construction costs, taxes and other capital expenses incurred by the port in construction of the building.

Completion of the project is set for Dec. 1.

Hinrichs has the option to renew the lease in two 20-year terms with the first renewal in January 2034.

Hinrichs also has the option of purchasing the building no later than Dec. 31, 2020.

“The port has been very, very good to work with,” said Phil Hinrichs, president of Hinrichs Trading.

“It’s the right spot for us with a lot of flexibility. It’s great for Whitman County and provides a need for us in this growing market,” he said.

Hinrichs hopes to employ four to eight people when the warehouse is up and running. He anticipates it will run seven days a week, 12 hours a day when it first opens. Soon after it opens, the warehouse is expected to operate around the clock.

“It’s a good climate for year-round operation,” Hinrichs said.

“Wilma provides us with all three shipping logistics,” he said. “We have the river which is very important to us to ship product to Portland. Then we have the rail to ship to the East and West coasts and trucks that can haul 24 hours a day.”

Garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, have been part of the Hinrichs family business for five generations. They purchase, process, distribute and export premium quality garbanzo and other beans throughout the United States and the world. Their products include whole and split beans, seed and flour. They offer commercial and organically grown products.

Garbanzos have been transformed from a small and local specialty crop to hundreds of thousands of acres in more than seven states.

The land of the Palouse is recognized for its premium quality and high yield production of garbanzo beans.

“This is just one step we have to do right now because the consumer is asking us to,” he said.

“We have the best farmers in the U.S. and chickpeas are not an introductory crop to farmers any longer. They are a cash crop,” he said.

“Chickpeas are being used for lots of products, and it’s going to be a way of life,” Hinrichs said.

Hinrichs corporate headquarters is in Pullman with plants in Pullman, Steptoe, Craigmont, Idaho, and Minatare, Neb., and a processor in Arizona.