GOTHENBURG, NE (RFD NEWS) — A proposed Nebraska fertilizer plant would place finished liquid nitrogen production closer to Western Corn Belt growers who depend on supply moved from distant plants and ports. Joshua Westling, founder and CEO of J Westling & Co., presented Project Meadowlark to the Senate Agriculture Committee this month.
Westling says the more than $1 billion complex would produce 365,000 tons of urea ammonium nitrate, or UAN, and 140,000 tons of ammonium thiosulfate annually. Operations are targeted for 2029.
“[It is] sad to see that some of what we’ve been talking about is actually playing out in the marketplace today, with disruptions that happen all over the world for a variety of reasons that hold our farmers, our grain producers, hostage,” Westling said. “Through no making of their own, fertilizer prices are stratospherically high and, again, that all goes back to supply and demand. We need more production in this country and specific geographies, where those facilities weren’t built in historically.”
Unlike facilities focused on merchant ammonia, Meadowlark would convert its on-site ammonia into UAN and sulfur-containing ATS fertilizers used by regional crop producers.
Westling says the project has raised more than $50 million in development capital, mostly from farmer-aligned partners and Nebraska agricultural interests. He identified financing timelines, permitting coordination, and predictable trade policy as barriers to additional domestic fertilizer capacity.
“It is definitely a step in the right direction. It’s refreshing to me that they see the problem — that they’re thinking through ways to solve the problem — and I think they’re on the right track,” he said. “Of course, you know, they need to start deploying some of the resources that they’ve suggested in order to make what they want to come to fruition. But it’s a step in the right direction, for sure. And then there’s some legislation, bipartisan legislation, at both the Senate and the House that are definitely steps in the right direction as well, and getting the government involved in solving the problem.”
The project still requires final investment decisions and remaining capital. If completed, it could improve regional fertilizer reliability, but producers should not expect immediate price relief.
