Thornton, Iowa — North Iowa Cooperative’s new $5.5 million dry fertilizer facility is ready to come online in the next few weeks. “We’ll be using a Kahler Automation system, which automates the plant from the point of receiving the product and blending and delivering to our customers,” Agronomy Manager Creighton Nelson told Green Markets. “And all that can be controlled from a single computer console.” Nelson added that the new facility, constructed over the last several months, will operate eight fertilizer bins with a total capacity of 13,000 tons. Two anhydrous ammonia tanks with a total capacity of 62,000 gallons for filling nurse tanks will be located only a couple of blocks from the main facility. At the same time, the co-op is setting its sights on breaking ground this spring, at a cost of $635,000, for a two-million-gallon tank to store UAN. There are also plans to install a bulk chemical and package warehouse. Ten new employees were added recently, increasing the total number to about 50, with expectations to hire two more full-time employees and six-to-eight part-timers on a seasonal basis.
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