Ames, Iowa-The producers are looking into complaints of “sickly odors” from a water-based fertilizer made from a soybean refining byproduct. “We’ve been using it for land application for eight or nine years in Iowa and it’s the first time we’ve had this issue,” reported Sam Scheidler, executive director of Feed Energy of Des Moines, the company that supplies the fertilizer. “We’ve suspended the use while we are looking into what created this situation.” Over the last two weeks residents in Ames and other areas have reported an intermittent rotting meat or dead fish odor. “It just reeks,” said Mike Holub, who owns a greenhouse business two miles east of the Heart of Iowa Cooperative branch near Nevada where the liquid is stored in a tank. “We’re getting headaches around here from it.” Story County Interim Health Director Margaret Jaynes is looking into more than 15 complaints from residents living in three different areas. Heart of Iowa reported more than a dozen complaints. Boyd Brodie, operations manager for Heart of Iowa, told the local press this is the second year the fertilizer has been applied to fields in Story County. He believes the odor may be the result of treating the fields earlier in November during warmer weather. “We’ve been taken by surprise,” Brodie said. “Everybody’s trying to figure out what happened to cause these odor issues.” Scheidler told Green Markets the fertilizer, which has all the primary nutrients plus micronutrients, is usually applied on row crops after harvest. “Farmers who have used it like it,” he added.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain