River Bend Ag LLC, a wholesale fertilizer distributor located on the Mississippi River at New Madrid, Mo., announced last week that it will increase its dry fertilizer storage capacity at that location by some 35 percent, from the current 25,000 tons to between 32,000 and 35,000 tons.
The company, a joint venture between Mosaic Crop Nutrition and a regional cooperative by the name of Delta Growers Association, stores urea, ammonium sulfate, DAP, and potash at the New Madrid facility, and also has capacity there for about 23,000 tons of UAN. New Madrid is located just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at Cairo, Ill.
Eddie Barnhill, general manager of River Bend, told Green Markets that construction on the additional dry storage space will start in the coming weeks, with plans to have it completed by January in time for the spring 2009 planting season. River Bend’s dealer network is mostly west of the Mississippi River and stretches into western Missouri, north to St. Genevieve, Mo., near St. Louis, and south into Arkansas.
“With the world’s demand for quality food increasing each year, the producer of tomorrow will need to be able to produce food and fiber that will meet those needs,” the company said in a press release. “Our expansion will allow us to provide new solutions to help manage those needs.” Added Barnhill, “The additional storage will increase our ability to assist our dealer network in meeting the ever changing nutrient demands of today’s producers.”
River Bend has 10 employees and has been in existence for nine years, Barnhill said. The New Madrid site was a Cargill Crop Nutrition facility prior to the formation of the jv. Mosaic’s partner in River Bend, Delta Growers Association, is a farmer-owned cooperative based in Charleston, Mo., with more than 300 members.
Barnhill, who worked for Delta Growers prior to joining River Bend six years ago, said operating the expanded facility will likely require no additions to the River Bend staff.