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Producing 8 %
more yield with Anhydrous Ammonia at $450 per ton equivalent. At $650 to $950 per US ton, ammonia is sold around the USA and Canada at 40 cents to 55 cents per lb of N. The cost of NH3 is about 3 to 4 times higher than 12 years ago. The commodity that it grows is not 3 to 4 times higher than 12 years ago. So the producer net margin has shrunk about 10% to 15% between 2007 and now primarily due to a change in fertilizer manufacturers pricing. A tremendous margin has been developed. Within the time frame of 70 years of NH3 broad scale manufacture the manufacturer’s margin is not in line historically speaking.
So why not build NH3 locally at your farm site with a $150,000 to $350,000 investment? Can NH3 be built for 25% to 50% of today’s retail price? Can the producer margin be increased 10%. Can the larger producers sell to the small producers? Can a Coop build locally and spread the wealth locally?
The problem is the same no matter where you go. The problem is devising a low cost storage method for NH3. The fertilizer industry knows the best place to store the NH3 as NH4 is in the soil. But that does not work anymore due to the nutrient losses of the past. Old approaches using the soil to store NH3 have resulted in lost nitrogen into the environment. Poor economics have resulted since NH3 is now very expensive in relation to the commodity price. So when a 3,000 acre irrigated corn producer decides that he could build 102,000 gallons of NH3 per year he would set up qty. 4, 30,000 gallon storage tanks with the small NH3 plant. The storage tanks cost is $150,000 per tank. Thus the plant could easy cost $1 million dollars. The 102,000 gallons stored in 4 tanks would cost a lot more than first anticipated. That would be 265 tons of NH3 or about $172,380 at $650 per ton fair market price. A good cost to build the NH3 at 50% of retail using natural gas would be $86,190 or about $266 per ton. If the plant was a portable plant with the tanks as the only investment, about $600,000 would need to be invested into the NH3 tank facility. So
the large investment might work for a large farmer. But most large
farms have much bigger fish to fry. And there is always risk of an improved process or a better way to build the nutrient. So building NH3 on the farm is not what you think it is.
Is there another way to get NH3 costs in line and not have so much storage? Yes, by using the following techniques. Effectively, Exactrix lowers the NH3 cost from $600 to $650 per ton to $400 to $455 per ton. Crystalline TAPPS makes the placed P twice as crop effective and stabilized N with Thio-sul® results in the most efficient low cost and balanced nutrients.
NH3 Storage and Exactrix is the key. Owning your equipment is very important to time the application. 1. Implement a quality but low cost NH3 and liquid storage plan. Store about 50% of what the crop needs with on farm storage. Buy the NH3 in the off season, July/August, November/December. Fill your applicators timely for banding just in time. Apply in late fall with stabilized Exactrix TAPPS. Apply again in the spring with stabilized Exactrix TAPPS. 2. Exactrix Weigh Master systems make the NH3 as NH4 more crop available with high pressure, 1% CV application of liquefied NH3 combined with primary sources of P, K and S plus Zn. Exactrix application rate is typically at .7 of the University recommendation. Under current commodity pricing the advantage of Exactrix is $30 to $40 per acre dryland and $70 to $100 per acre in irrigated production. A savings that can pay back the entire Exactrix investment in 1 year.
Liquid Streaming flows assure high crop availability of balanced placed nutrients. Terminal orifices are designed to 1% variation of each port. NH3 is filtered 2 times prior to delivery. A high temperature reaction in the soil results in crystalline TAPPS without tillage. The
Exactrix process reduces the inaccuracies and allows the plant to
utilize the nutrients in a even
“Find the need and fill it”. Mustang tool bars apply with 1% CV at the 6 inch depth without soil disturbance.
LESS
IS MORE: Before
planting, Mark Ricker bands TAPPS, or Tri-Ammonium Polyphosphate
Sulfate, on the go in a wheat field near Lyons, KS. He is using Exactrix
Mustang P-51C openers for low disturbance. While TAPPS cuts fertilizer
costs, Ricker has seen a yield increase of 5% to 8% in wheat, corn rye
and sunflowers. "It will pay for itself very quickly, just in the
savings on inputs,
The total investment is paid back in 1 year, typically. Savings of $100 per acre in irrigated production. Plus timing on crops like winter wheat, winter canola and triticale with late fall and early spring banding into the growing crop. Banding at the 6 inch depth improves cereal root access with a much lower cost of operation. Exactrix Tool bars are set up 15 inch band centers for a reason. The spacing allows planting and banding the same day on the same field with TAPPS application. Totally safe NH3 application on 15 inch centers at 6 inch depths means better nutrient application windows and better timing of nutrients at much lower costs.
Need more information on advanced crop production. www.exactrix.com/EWAC.htm
For More Information:
(509) 254 6854 
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