Lincoln, Neb.-Advice from University of Nebraska authorities that farmers would be better off recycling their own corn stover for fertilizer doesn’t bother Syngest developers who are planning to produce anhydrous ammonia from cornfield leftovers. This material, the experts claim, is more valuable to the farmers for adding nutrients and lending structure to the soil and can be worth from $17 to $46 a ton, where they may get only $20 a ton recycling to energy companies. Farmers lose, they believe, by having to add more fertilizer. “This won’t affect what we are doing,” said Jack Oswald, CEO of Syngest, which is working on locating its first plant near Des Moines. “We agree that taking stover can be a problem, although we expect that some of the upper portion of the stover will be okay to take.” Oswald noted that research has been underway for some time, but it takes years to get good data. “On the other hand,” he noted, “it is generally agreed that corn cobs can be removed entirely without soil degradation. And even if we were to use stover, we will be capturing the ash containing both P and K and re-distributing it back to the farm.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain