The United Nations recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, which include a call to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” by 2030. Nitrogen plays a key role in achieving that goal. This basic element is fundamental to protein formation in plants, most of which can absorb nitrogen only through soil. Annual application spurs healthy plant growth and helps farmers boost harvests. That boost is critical given the finite amount of arable land in the world and farmers’ need to yield more food per acre.
Today, fertilizer makes possible nearly two-thirds of the world’s food. The importance of helping to bridge the difference between food demand and supply will only grow in the years ahead as global population steadily increases. We’re keeping pace with demand by investing at our nitrogen complexes in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and Port Neal, Iowa, which will increase our own manufacturing capacity by nearly a third. With their close proximity to ports on the Gulf of Mexico and to the heart of the Corn Belt, both locations are well-positioned to serve farmers.
That’s important because optimal crop yields are dependent upon applying nutrients at precisely the right time in the growth cycle. In North America, we use a combination of pipeline, barge, rail and truck to move our products from manufacturing plants to terminal facilities in farming communities to ensure in-season availability of our products.
Dr. W. Dwight Armstrong, Already North America’s largest nitrogen complex, our Donaldsonville, Louisiana, facility is further expanding through investments that will benefit CF shareholders and employees, the surrounding community and, most important, farmers who need our products to enhance crop yields.
We are an engaged corporate neighbor with strong ties to the local community through our support of numerous educational programs and civic causes.
With over 4.2 million man-hours on the project during 2014, our team of employees and contractors successfully maintained an excellent safety record, exceeding the standard for industrial construction by 47 percent.
CF is already an employer of choice in the region, and our expansion projects will increase Donaldsonville’s existing 1,000-plus full- and part-time workforce by nearly 10 percent and support an estimated 700 jobs in related industries.
Upon completion, the complex will be capable of manufacturing 3.5 million nutrient tons of anhydrous ammonia, granular urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution annually — enough for approximately 49 million acres of corn.
The complex takes advantage of its proximity to abundant supplies of natural gas, the major feedstock for nitrogen-based fertilizers.
Donaldsonville’s location on the Mississippi River provides direct access to the Gulf of Mexico and global agricultural customers beyond.
New plants are being built with energy-efficient, state-of-the-art technology.
In 2014, CF Industries’ products helped meet the crop nutrient needs of farmers on six continents.
Source: Internal CF Data
