Bratney Delivers Turnkey Greenfield Rice Mill for Texas Rice Milling

Texas Rice Milling set out to connect Texas rice farmers directly with consumers by milling and packaging locally grown rice in Brookshire, Texas. Bratney delivered the new greenfield mill as a turnkey project, from process design and equipment selection through fabrication, construction, installation, commissioning, and operator training, working closely with equipment partners Schule, Cimbria, and Concetti. The facility is the largest rice mill Bratney has built in the United States and a flagship project for both Bratney and Schule in the U.S. market.

Project Background

Texas Rice Milling, home of the Honestly Texas Rice brand, is a vertical integration project led by owner and farmer JD Woods and CEO Pamela West. Their vision was a new milling facility that would produce high-quality rice from the harvests of local farmers. The team spent about six years evaluating vendors. Their first contact with Bratney came through its Concetti representative, and after meeting more of the Bratney team, they chose Bratney as their partner for the project.

Because the mill was built from the ground up, Bratney designed the process first and the facility around it. The mill produces long grain white, long grain brown, and long grain jasmine rice. Cimbria equipment handles cleaning, length grading, optical color sorting, and material handling. Schule equipment handles hulling, paddy separation, whitening, and polishing. The mill was also laid out to accommodate future expansion.

Finished rice leaves the plant in a wide range of package sizes. A Concetti IGF 600 bagger fills 20 to 110 lb bags, which a Concetti four-column palletizer stacks for shipment. Retail packs from 1 to 10 lb are palletized on a Fanuc small-pack palletizer, and a Bratney tote fill station loads bulk bags.

The project started in April 2025 and reached substantial completion in June 2026. The jobsite was tight, so the team carefully coordinated material deliveries and construction sequencing. Bratney project manager Grant Mast oversaw labor, procurement, and construction, and was on site every other week working directly with the Texas Rice Milling team. Bratney fabricated the hoppers, valves, and spouting in its own shop, then installed and commissioned the equipment and trained the operators. Delivering the project as one scope gave the customer a single point of contact from design through startup.

“When I think of Bratney, the one common word that I have for every person, whether they’re on the construction crew or if they’re the owner, it’s integrity.”

Pamela West, CEO, Brookshire Drying Company and Texas Rice Milling

Project Scope

Process Engineering
Facility Design
Project Management
Equipment Selection
Procurement
Fabrication
Construction
Equipment Installation
Commissioning
Operator Training
Facility Startup

Project Details

Bratney designed the greenfield facility and process layout.
Bratney managed labor, procurement, and construction from design through startup.
Hoppers, valves, and spouting were fabricated in Bratney’s shop.
Schule, Cimbria, and Concetti equipment was integrated into a single milling and packaging process.
The mill produces long grain white, long grain brown, and long grain jasmine rice.
Packaging runs from 1 lb retail packs to 110 lb bags, plus bulk bags.
Material deliveries and construction sequencing were closely coordinated on a tight jobsite.
Bratney installed and commissioned the equipment and trained the operators.
The facility is laid out to accommodate future expansion.
The project started in April 2025 and reached substantial completion in June 2026.