Army Corps Joins In Fertilizer Effort

The Army Corps of Engineers has joined with USDA to help boost domestic fertilizer production and bring down farm input costs by speeding permitting for new fertilizer plants.

“We’ve used the energy executive order to permit more than one-thousand energy-related facilities," said War Department Assistant Secretary Adam Telle.  "We are taking that same effort and applying it now to fertilizer.”

The Corps of Engineers accelerated permitting this year for major fertilizer projects, including the $4 billion Blue Point low-carbon ammonia plant.

“This facility happens to be located on the Mississippi River," Telle noted.  "And there’s a reason for that…and that’s because the inland waterway system that we build and maintain, enables the inputs for farmers all across America, in the heartland, to go into the system and to have their products flow throughout the country and into the world.”

Blue Point will help boost domestic production by about 4.5 million tons per year and support roughly 400,000 producers and 290 million acres of farmland.  USDA’s Fertilizer Production and Expansion Program, which is funded by the CCC, provides grants to build fertilizer plants and modernize equipment.  More than 200 million in grants were awarded in 18 states in 2024.

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