The Wright County Board of Supervisors on March 18 approved a development agreement with ReNewtrient 1 LLC, a small New York-based agricultural chemical company, to build an organic chicken litter fertilizer plant in Iowa. The project has been in the works for some time, as a building permit was issued last year (GM May 11, 2018). Construction on the plant is expected soon at a site 10 miles southeast of Clarion, off U.S. Highway 69. Costs for the plant are now put at $20 million, down from 2018’s estimate of $25 million.
A processing plant, administrative office, laboratory, outside containment areas, and truck disinfectant bay are planned. Once construction begins, it is projected to take a year to complete and be ready for operations. Some nine jobs are expected to be created, down from 2018 estimates of 12.
The county will provide tax increment financing support for the plant and road improvements. Additionally, the county will rebate back half of the anticipated $55,000 per year in property taxes for the first three years. A gravel road will be paved, with the county receiving a $144,000 grant for the cost. The company will pay $150,000 for road improvements over the next ten years.
The plant would convert about 150,000 st/y of raw chicken litter from egg laying facilities into dry and liquid certified organic fertilizer. One of the expected products will include sulfur. The company said the process would remove pathogens and also reduce the population of flies in the county, because moisture content in the waste would be cut from 40 percent to 10 percent.
ReNewtrient would work with Farm Nutrients LLC of Rembrandt, Iowa, which has contracts with poultry facilities throughout Wright County and northwestern Iowa. Farm Nutrients would supply the chicken waste, which would be processed by ReNewtrient and sold back to Farm Nutrients for marketing to organic farmers.
Because of organic specification requirements, the chicken manure must be kept in enclosed storage at all times, reducing exposed piles on outside ground until it is time to be applied onto fields. The raw manure would be crushed to remove non-essentials, put on a conveyor belt, heated, and shaken to make it an ideal size for easier land application. Covered trucks and liquid tankers would be used to deliver it to customers. Ammonia from the manure will be turned into liquid nitrogen, reducing its release into the air and adding more value to the product.