Agrotain International and parent company Lange-Stegmann this week celebrated the grand opening of their $20 million, two-facility expansion project, what marketing director Jeff Whetstine jokingly called their “cathedral to fertilizer.”
|
|
While it’s too early to tell if the project’s results will elicit worship from the turf industry, the expansion does mark several “firsts.”
The Stabilized Nitrogen Center is the first fertilizer manufacturing plant using phase modification, which is a process that transforms imported granular urea back to its liquor state to add its proprietary stabilized nitrogen technology and then re-granulates it. The re-granulation takes place via the falling-curtain method, which allows for specific sizing and uniform spherical shape and ensures even distribution of the stabilized nitrogen technology.
The second facility, the St. Louis Urea Center, is now the nation’s largest inland urea import terminal. Most notable are its 63,000 tons of storage capacity and its location at the northernmost ice-free, lock-free point on the Mississippi River, allowing for year-round off-loading of imported urea. This location also is directly served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the nation’s railroads through the cooperative Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
These two new facilities and their key location enable the company to provide a reliable supply of stabilized nitrogen fertilizers to end-users, says Mike Stegmann, president of Lange-Stegmann. Before, Agrotain contracted out the manufacturing of its UMAXX and UFLEXX fertilizers to facilities in East Dubuque, Iowa, and Lima, Ohio, says Chuck Barber, regional manager of turf and ornamental sales. Now, Agrotain’s Stabilized Nitrogen Center, set to open by the end of the month, is expected to produce 125,000 tons of fertilizer annually.
Ultimately, Agrotain’s stabilized nitrogen products – said to reduce nitrogen losses from urea and in turn allow turf managers apply less product – and its newly efficient supply chain elements allow the manufacturer to be a better environmental steward, says Allen Sutton, vice president of business and product development for Agrotain International.
“We all have to be more efficient with our resources and this gives us an opportunity to do that,” he says.
