Honeywell will build a modular plant at J.R. Simplot’s Lathrop, Calif., facility to manufacture a new nitrate fertilizer that’s harder to turn into bombs.
Honeywell announced on Dec. 2 it will produce Sulf-N 26. While the news got a lot of play nationally, it failed to get much attention in Idaho. Simplot officials said Honeywell handled the press release distribution.
Sulf-N 26 is a new, dry granular ammonium sulfate nitrate fertilizer made from a patented process that chemically fuses ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate.
That process produces an entirely new and highly stable fertilizer.
Independent agronomic tests on crops and plants — ranging from grass to cabbage, tomatoes, strawberries and oranges — found the new fertilizer to be compatible with other fertilizers and safe to transport, handle and store.
What made national news was the new fertilizer, independently tested, with guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, had significantly less or, in some cases, no explosive power, when compared to traditional nitrate-based fertilizers. That has become a major issue for U.S. military officials since fertilizer bombs have killed so many American soldiers.
It was a fertilizer bomb, you might remember, that in 1995 destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people.
Under the terms of the agreement, Honeywell will engineer, construct and own a modular manufacturing facility at Simplot’s existing Lathrop nitrate fertilizer production plant. Simplot will operate the facility and have exclusive rights to market and sell the fertilizer in the Western U.S., western Canada and northern Mexico.
Garrett Lofto, president of Simplot’s AgriBusiness Group, said in the release that the new fertilizer is very well-suited to Western soils, crops and turf grass.
“This agreement will provide our agricultural and professional products customers with a safe, efficient and agronomically viable alternative to traditional ammonium nitrate fertilizers,” he said.
Simplot will get some exclusive business arrangements out of the deal.
But perhaps more significant, the Idaho family business may be contributing to a shift that makes the world a little more secure over time.
Rocky Barker: 377-6484
