Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a $1.34 billion total investment to support eight U.S. fertilizer projects. The initiative, funded through the USDA’s Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) program, includes $573 million in federal funds paired with private investment.
Vance announced the funding during a campaign rally in North Platte, Neb., on Thursday.
“This is yet another move forward, a farmer-first step toward American fertilizer independence,” said Rollins in a press call. “The eight selected projects announced today include new facilities and expansions of existing operations, spanning 22 manufacturing locations in 16 states. Once those projects are operational, we expect the initial investments to result in over a million tons of expanded annual domestic fertilizer production and capacity.”
In July, USDA announced the $500 million FIELDS program. Today’s announcement adds more than $73 million. The additional money was gathered from the Biden administration’s Fertilizer Production Expansion Program (FPEP). USDA said the agency pulled back funds from FPEP projects that lacked signed agreements.
“We’re a small drop in the larger impact in the billions,” a USDA official said on the press call.
“This is not money required from Congress,” Rollins said. “This is a rural development project and one that we are able to immediately deploy funds on.”
The Eight Projects
- TalusAg
- Funding will help support a $270.2 million project deploying 20 modular ammonia manufacturing units across 11 locations. The project will impact locations in Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois and South Dakota.
- The project is estimated to produce 130,000 tons of anhydrous ammonia annually.
- Peace Valley
- Funds will go toward a $50.6 million project to expand a fertilizer plant in Bartow, Fla.
- The construction is expected to produce approximately 250,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur-containing fertilizer annually.
- Intrepid Potash
- Received $139 million in USDA funding to construct a sulfate of potash manufacturing facility near Carlsbad, N.M.
- It would produce nearly 220,000 tons annually.
- PCI Nitrogen
- Received $100 million to modernize existing fertilizer manufacturing facilities in Pasadena, Texas, and St. Helens, Ore.
- It would support approximately 148,280 tons of annual production.
- AdvanSix
- USDA funds will support an existing ammonia facility in Hopewell, Va.
- The modernization efforts are expected to produce approximately 84,000 tons of anhydrous ammonia annually.
- SUL4R-PLUS Illinois
- FIELDS funds will be used to expand a sulfur fertilizer facility in Marissa, Ill.
- The project adds a manufacturing line and improves storage and transportation infrastructure, supporting approximately 100,000 tons of annual sulfur fertilizer production.
- True Organic Products
- USDA funding will expand fertilizer manufacturing at facilities in Helm, Calif.; Boardman, Ore.; and Arlington, Ariz.
- The project will use agricultural byproducts to generate an estimated 142,805 tons of fertilizer annually.
- Agriculture Project Holdco
- Approximately $116.9 million will go toward two fertilizer manufacturing facilities in Lewis, Kan., and Fair Oaks, Ind.
- Dairy manure will be converted into approximately 4,100 tons of liquid ammonium nitrate fertilizer annually.
How much money will it save farmers?
An economic analysis by USDA estimates the investment will reduce nitrogen fertilizer prices by 4.4% and potash prices by 5.3%. Once operational, USDA predicts the projects will increase domestic nitrogen production by 3.7% and potash production by nearly 40%.
