Although some believe there’s a better way, Iowa retailers will have to settle for injecting the new anti-meth additive into anhydrous ammonia nurse tanks, according to state agriculture officials. The word isn’t out to everyone as yet, according to a spot check by Green Markets, but calcium nitrate is not approved for adding to transports or storage tanks. Several of those contacted suggested that larger volumes could be handled quicker and easier at the terminals where the tanker trucks are loaded.
State Plant Management and Technology Director John Whipple responded that only the nurse tanks were tested for stress corrosion cracking. “Calcium nitrate is not approved for transports or storage tanks,” Whipple concluded. “This also causes much less concern from the ammonia manufacturers since refrigeration and industrial ammonia cannot be contaminated.” He added that technical information concerning what compound, how much to add per ton, and how to inject it is on the Agribusiness Association of Iowa website at www.agribiz.com, along with FAQs and DEA results with the inhibitor testing for stress corrosion cracking and metallurgy. The state ag department will have the technical information posted on its website soon.
The go-ahead for voluntarily using calcium nitrate earlier this month (GM Oct. 16, p. 1) triggered a number of questions not restricted to where and when the additive should be injected. Whipple said his office was getting a flood of calls, and the Office of Drug Control Policy got inquiries from agriculture, government, and media organizations as far away as Cambridge, England.
Dealers contacted in several parts of the state were eager for more information to pass on to their customers. Jim Penney, general manager for seven Heart of Iowa locations, wants “to know what effect it’s going to have on our equipment. We’ve got some pretty expensive applicators and metering devices.” Kennon Gumm in the sales office at Northeast Iowa Co-op in Randalia thought that the additive may be okay for the time being, but is concerned that “the thieves may come up after awhile with a way to work around it.” Gumm would like to see if something could be done to be put it all together at the terminal where tanker trucks are loaded. Chad Remmers offered that the timing may be awkward, because the Cooperative Elevator Assn. at Ocheyedan staff was busy with fall fertilizing and harvesting and may not be able to handle the changes.
Meanwhile, Whipple was thinking “big time” about the amount of calcium nitrate that might be used each year. Whipple assumed that if only half the estimated 26,000 one thousand-gallon nurse tanks in Iowa were treated twice a year for 26,000 treatments, Iowa would use between 3,000 and 3,500 tons each year.