McMinnville, Ore.-Long-time Oregon agriculture chemicals and supplies dealer OVS has completed and put into operation here one of only two blending facilities in the northern Willamette Valley that has the capability to convert dry fertilizer into liquid form. “There are not a lot of these facilities in the country,” according to OVS Plant Manager Ken Wessels. He said the expansion represents an investment of $1 million, including $500,000 in equipment and another $500,000 in adjacent property with two storage buildings, which is presently under lease. He said the blending facility is equipped with a 3 million BTU water heater that gives OVS the capability of blending a wide variety of products that cannot be done with cold mixing. “We have the ability to melt products such as urea, potassium chloride, sulfate of potash, ammonium sulfate, potassium nitrate, and phosphate plus a wide variety of other macro and micronutrients,” he added. This new facility is equipped with a variety of tanks and bladders totaling over 170,000 gallons of bulk storage. OVS now has the ability to bring raw materials in by bulk truck or rail car and blend them to specific needs in one of its blending tanks equipped with NTEP approved weighing systems. The facility is equipped with a 2,500 gallon stainless steel blender and a 2,500 gallon organic acid mixer. “We have the ability to blend any volume you may need, whether it’s a full semi-load, a mini-bulk shuttle or as little as a 5 gallon bucket,” Wessels said.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain