CHS centralizes fertilizer facility near canola plant

By Anna Jauhola
The new CHS Fertilizer plant is up and running.
The 26,500-ton capacity facility is located south of the canola plant between Hallock and Kennedy, along Highway 75.
“We loaded the first load on April 16,” said Ryan Anderson, senior director of operations in Warren. “We fill the plant by train mainly. We did that throughout the winter and spring.”
The facility holds mostly urea shipped in from Texas and Missouri, and phosphate shipped in from Florida. They also keep potash on hand, shipped from Canada, but that isn’t as popular.
The satellite locations in Humboldt and Lake Bronson no longer operate, but are staging locations for employees. Eventually, the fertilizer plant buildings will be torn down, Anderson said.
“We have a number of trucks and Terragators, and our workforce is from some of those areas,” he added. “So we’re still planning to own those properties, but tearing down the plants is doing what’s right for the communities. Clean up is necessary.”
The biggest benefit of the new plant is the exceptionally increased capacity. Among the three previous facilities, Kittson County’s CHS only offered 5,500 tons of fertilizer storage. When those ran out, CHS would fill those plants from Warren or Drayton facilities.
“For our growers up there, we now store nearly all their needs for spring and it’s on hand before they’re in the field,” Anderson said. “It’s really important to us that when growers are committing fertilizer to CHS, we want to have it when they want it. When we were running smaller plants before, it was a challenge.”
Sometimes, if the plants at Hallock, Humboldt or Lake Bronson ran out of fertilizer, those producers had to wait for more to arrive. Having the extra 21,000 tons available within the county, along with the new facility’s increased speed and efficiency for loading, is a huge benefit to growers and CHS.
The Hallock plant remains in operation, but is repurposed to provide chemical and seed storage. The office will also be renovated to provide room for other office personnel.
The entire project stayed on track throughout and met the original goal of opening this spring.