AgroPages-Iowa View: Fertilizer plant good for Iowa farmers-Agricultural news

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Last week, state and county officials took exciting steps to further encourage economic investment, create jobs and ensure farmers throughout the Midwest have a reliable supply of fertilizer for decades to come.

On Wednesday, the Lee County Board of Supervisors and Iowa Economic Development Authority announced a development agreement with the Iowa Fertilizer Co., a subsidiary of Orascom Construction Industries. They announced a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant to be constructed in Lee County near Wever.

This fertilizer plant is good for Iowa farmers. It creates a large, local supply of fertilizer, making it easier for farmers to access a needed resource, while reducing the cost to buy fertilizer.

Iowa’s 92,400 farmers cultivate more than 14 million corn acres every year. It is natural Iowa has the highest use of nitrogen fertilizer in the nation. However, the United States currently has an insufficient number of nitrogen fertilizer manufacturers, so nitrogen fertilizer from overseas accounts for approximately half of the nitrogen fertilizer used in the U.S. The result is that Midwest farmers are left without a stable supply of a product crucial to their success.

The new plant will help alleviate these problems. Upon completion, the Iowa Fertilizer plant will dramatically increase domestic production and help insulate farmers from product shortages and dramatic price spikes.

This new plant will help keep agricultural money in the United States and in Iowa. But this plant will benefit non-farm interests as well. The project stands to create 165 permanent jobs in Lee County, in addition to 2,500 jobs during the construction phase.

A point of tremendous pride for all Iowans is the manner in which our state has steadily and efficiently encouraged economic growth and strengthened the agricultural sector throughout the duration of one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history.

Our state’s agricultural and economic vitality is no accident — officials have worked hand-in-hand with private stakeholders to facilitate the investment needed to support a diverse and sustainable economy.

The overwhelming majority of the incentives awarded are in the form of investment tax credits or abatements, which are not direct payments from the public. These incentives are used to offset a portion of the future tax bill of the company.

Over the life of the plant, the company will be paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the state and local community. These are taxes that would not come into our state without this project.

Additionally, the Midwest disaster relief bonds are not public dollars, nor are they backed by taxpayer money, leaving no taxpayer money at risk. Instead the bonds are purchased and owned by private sector investors.

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. project is a textbook example of a public-private collaboration and planning that stands to benefit our farmers and our economy.

Iowa continues to lead the nation in agriculture, and our economy is succeeding at a level far above the national average. Thanks to diversification and development in sectors from agriculture to finance to advanced manufacturing and clean energy, we are well positioned for the future.

This project, and the massive investment it entails, is an opportunity to further secure our state’s future through high-paying jobs, increased tax revenue and general improvement of the state’s agricultural landscape.