Yaregrain is up and running as the directors have raised the first tranche of more than �1m in capital.Farmer Andrew Alston, who is chairman of the new Broadland based company, said that the class of 100 'A' shares, each costing �5,000, has been virtually fully subscribed.

Yaregrain is up and running as the directors have raised the first tranche of more than �1m in capital.

Farmer Andrew Alston, who is chairman of the new Broadland based company, said that the class of 100 'A' shares, each costing �5,000, has been virtually fully subscribed.

Many more than expected of the 'B' class shares, which each carry the right to store 100 tonnes of grain at the Cantley site, have been taken up.

Mr Alston said that more applications for these "B" shares, which each cost �6,000, had been received.

Although the exact total was not known exactly because some applications were being checked, more than 9,000 tonnes had been bought. And the final total, represented by the storage rights, is set to be close to 10,000 tonnes.

With about �500,000 in 'A' shares and more than �550,000 in 'B' shares, it means that the company has more than matched the minimum threshold. As a result, Yaregrain can now acquire the Cantley site and the directors will be planning the phased investment in the advanced processing plant. "We're way past the first target. We had to sell 50 'A' and 50 'B' shares and we've more than done that," said Mr Alston, who farms at Catfield, neat Stalham.

He is now planning to follow up the grant application to Eeda (East of England Development Agency) for the grain processing side of the enterprise.

The aim of the store, which has planning permission for a total of 30,000 tonnes of grain, is to add value by drying and "processing" into batches to meet the demands of specific purchasers.

With the first stage of the fund-raising complete, Mr Alston and fellow directors will be working on the second phase of raising further capital to fund the complete �4.3m expansion programme.

He favoured starting on the advanced processing equipment because the site only has capacity for about 5,000 tonnes of grain for this year's harvest.

"Yaregrain can now purchase the site. I think there's a lot of people sitting in the wings, waiting to buy tonnage for next year," he said.