On Tuesday, the Polk County Commissioners approved a conditional use permit Tuesday for Crookston Valley Cooperative to build a new dry fertilizer storage facility. The proposed facility would be 100’ x 224’ and hold 10,000 tons of dry fertilizer.
Crookston Valley Cooperative Manager Justin Spivey said they are hoping to replace their current dry fertilizer building with expanded capacity. “We are hopefully replacing our building that was built in 1979,” said Spivey. “It’s about 3,000-ton. The speed that growers can go with their much larger equipment turned a six-month ordeal to a 10-day ordeal. So, our infrastructure needs to be replaced. It’s going to be faster and larger, so we’re proposing through board approval and a couple of other things to build a 10,000-ton dry fertilizer plant.”
Spivey said the hope is to get the facility built in the spring. “It’s pretty much what we’ve been using for a long time,” said Spivey. “We need some more storage in our bins, the number of bins as well. This is one step closer to fruition. When all the bids are in and get board approval, hopefully, next spring would be the next step.”
The facility will store the specialty products and the standard product used, and then Crookston Valley Cooperative mixes them based on the need of individual fields. “There are four to five different products we use,” said Spivey. “For the most part, we’ll go off a soil sample, and it’s just like a prescription. We’ll take so much nitrogen, phosphate, potassium and mix that per field. So, it’s not just a blanket. It all depends on what the growers are looking for.”
Spivey said the dry fertilizer is one of the safest chemicals used. “We’re just a local co-op,” said Spivey. “We sell retail fertilizer to growers. We obviously buy it wholesale, store it, and when we need to turn around and get it applied. As for all dryer chemicals or anhydrous, this is probably the safest chemical we work with day-to-day.”
