Jansen, Neb.—The Jansen Dry Fertilizer Facility held its dedication and open house last Tuesday, Sept. 24, marking the completion of a $5 million project that began with a ribbon cutting last October. The facility will house 14,000 tons of fertilizer in its eight bins and four micro bins. Several hundred people gathered at the Farmers Cooperative in Jansen to celebrate. “The company has invested a lot in this,” Jansen Branch Manager Rolan Knust said. “They definitely take a lot of pride in this area that they’re willing to spend the money. That says a lot about the farmers.” Fairbury Agronomy Branch Manager Mike McLain said there had been a need for several years for a facility with this capacity. The 43 co-ops in the region, which stretches from Hanover, Kan., to Dorchester to McCool Junction back to Beatrice, funded the project. “We expanded and our sales have been really good, so we just needed more capacity to handle our growth,” McLain said. In the past, the co-ops kept the fertilizer in smaller bins in various locations. The group chose the Jansen location because suppliers could deliver the fertilizer by rail, making it more cost-effective. Construction required 5,300 sheets of plywood and 1,870 cubic yards of concrete, with 140 tons of metal rebar. “It is a state-of-the-art facility,” McLain said. “It is a great asset for the area.” McLain said trucks will begin dumping fertilizer within the next couple of days. The fertilizer will arrive from the suppliers by rail and will be in one of the bins in less than 15 minutes. The totally automated machines that complete the order even have their own email address, enabling Eric Howard, the facility manager, to send orders directly to the machine. Howard said he is still in the process of learning how to properly control the machines.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain