NOVEMBER 2016
| WORLD FERTILIZER |
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built-in, fail-safe redundancy to control mission-critical
functions. Advantageous for the growers and the co-op, it is
expected that additional co-ops and other grain operations
will adopt this new technology as the industry strives to
provide more service to its customers on tighter budgets.
The new Gwinner location is also benefiting from more
physical space as well as higher capacity. “The window for
spring planting is very compressed,” noted Dennis Novacek,
General Manager of CHS Dakota Plains Ag. “At the rate
fertilizer product goes out, we need the floor space to have
enough product on hand when planting season starts in order
not to run out. And with our high efficiency, farmer trucks are
not sitting in line to get loaded.”
Benefits of consolidation
A new, state-of-the-art facility, located in Peru, Illinois, is
the sixth co-op facility operated by Northern Partners
Coop, in a partnership with CHS Inc. dry fertilizer operations
that were previously conducted at three of the other
locations and relied on outdated equipment are now
consolidated in Peru. In addition, CHS Inc. will market
fertilizer to wholesale customers from this location.
Kevin Nelson, Director of Communications for Northern
Partners, said the new facility offers many key benefits for the
co-op and its co-op farmer-owners. These include expanded
storage capacity (27 000 short t for inbound fertilizer),
increased speed of the fertilizer blending process and
managing a single blending system instead of multiple ones at
different locations. Assurance of a reliable supply brings value
to the co-op’s member-owners and higher efficiency also
translates into improved customer service.
Nelson added that the new facility not only means
increased efficiency, but also the opportunity to expand
Northern Partners’ customer base. “This facility gives us the
ability to serve a new segment of the market, primarily larger
growers, with services that weren’t in our toolbox previously,”
he explained. “We have improved our access to the markets
around us.”
Another major advantage is being able to receive
incoming fertilizer products by barge at the Peru site right on
the Illinois River. “We no longer have to go to a different
terminal to pick up and haul fertilizer back to our facilities,”
Nelson said. “We also benefit from better economies of scale
by being able to receive larger raw material shipments by
barge.”
Meeting future needs
Recent trends that have impacted dry fertilizer operations are
expected to continue for the near future – large crop yields,
resulting in a continued focus on automation, better
efficiency and more capacity. As an engineered to order
brand, InterSystems is always looking to introduce new
equipment features that will benefit end-users, depending on
their geography and crop mix.
With its recent entry into the dry fertilizer business, GSI
along with its parent company, AGCO Corp., now support
agricultural production from end-to-end – including
equipment for tillage, planting, application and harvesting;
seed treatment production; fertilizer material handling; and
grain storage and conditioning. This broad scope gives
agricultural equipment manufacturer AGCO the ability to
invest in new ideas and innovations that benefit farmers and
the supply chain. GSI's crop nutrient portfolio also now
includes Willmar fertilizer spreaders and tenders. Following
a million dollar investment by AGCO in GSI’s Omaha,
Nebraska, production facility, Willmar products are now
manufactured alongside InterSystems fertilizer material
handling equipment.
In today’s rapidly changing agricultural market, it will be
those with the most flexibility to adapt to customer
requirements and market conditions that will succeed. To
meet this objective, the InterSystems brand seeks to fill a
gap in the market by specialising in higher-quality,
heavy-duty fertilizer processing systems that supports truck,
barge and rail receiving, ingredient storage, truck loading,
open tripper belt conveyor for commodity flat storage,
blending, conditioning and facility design and layout.
Figure 4.
CHS Southwest co-op in Lemmon,
South Dakota, features high-speed, fully-automated
load-out and a stainless steel fertilizer blend tower.
Figure 5.
This InterSystems double weigh hopper and
single horizontal mixer blend tower provide high speed,
multi-product and impregnated customised blends.
