Largest fertilizer blending facility in Mississippi set to open in Guntown

GUNTOWN, Miss. (WCBI) – The largest and most state-of-the-art fertilizer blending facility in Mississippi will soon open in our area.

Mike Pannell took a break from his farming operation in New Albany to get a look at the building that will soon supply fertilizer for his crops.

“There’s nothing else like it in this state,” Pannell said.

The fertilizer blending facility is part of “Nutrien Ag Solutions” which will soon open near Guntown.  Farmers will bring in a soil sample, which is tested.  A custom mix of fertilizer is then made from raw ingredients at the facility.  Those ingredients are blended together, put on a conveyer belt, loaded onto tender trailers, and delivered to the farmer.

“It would take anywhere from 25 to 30 minutes to load a truck and get it out to the farm, where here we’re going to do that in 10 to 12 minutes. The faster we can get this to the farm, faster they can get fertilizer unloaded and we can get equipment back here and start the process all over again,” said Bart Bevill, location manager for Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Whether it’s a small or large operation, efficiency is key.  Farmers we spoke with say the new facility will  help them be more productive overall.

“Farming these days, it’s, you get things done as quick as you can, time frame is pretty narrow, you might have two weeks, or two days to do it.  So quicker you can get things out, get seed in the ground the better off you are,” Pannell said.

Next Wednesday, the state’s agriculture commissioner, and a host of elected officials will be at the state of the art facility for a preview.  The first official day of business, is next Thursday.

Nutrien will hire about 15 full-time employees at the Guntown site.