have brought new business to this terminal from northern cooperatives and CHS is gaining name recognition with the terminal’s existing customers.” The new terminal locations also open up new geography for CHS Grain Marketing, says Rick Dusek, vice president, CHS Agronomy. “Part of our strategy is to develop more river origination points to allow us to tap into high-production areas for corn, soybeans and soft wheat.” Beyond Farming Fertilizer use extends beyond agriculture to include forestry, residential markets and industrial processes. Even before the Terral RiverService acquisition, CHS had begun developing industrial sales. “These areas off er synergies with agricultural markets, provide more year-round demand and allow us to leverage new storage assets and shipping capabilities,” says Schmura. “The company has been involved in those markets for years, but was limited to working in our southern geography,” says Don Philley, crop nutrients national and industrial accounts manager for CHS and formerly with Terral. “Now we have the broad CHS supply network to draw from.” He lists the three biggest industrial uses for fertilizer: • Urea formaldehyde resins used in adhesives to produce fi ber and particleboard • Diesel emissions fl uid used to reduce nitric oxide concentrations in diesel engine exhaust • Supplemental phosphorus for animal feeds More dedicated storage and loading facilities help CHS serve both industrial and agricultural customers, adds Schmura. “We already have global fertilizer supply and logistics expertise. Increasing our river presence gives us more sourcing fl exibility.” ■ CHSINC.COM A truck waits for a load of potash at the Alexandria, La., terminal of Terral RiverService. CHS recently purchased the fertilizer business and related assets of the river transportation company. > “These river origination points will allow us to tap into high-production areas for corn, soybeans and soft wheat.” “With many vessels of imported products arriving in the Gulf, it’s a great value to have more storage on the lower Mississippi,” he adds. “We can’t change vessel arrival and unloading times, but now we have additional places to store imported product.” This summer, river shutdowns due to dredging and tight supplies of barge equipment meant fi lled barges often waited in the Gulf for tows to take them north. “Now we have more places to stage barges and the option to move product inland by truck or rail. “We often have a small demand window in the spring or fall, which puts more pressure on the delivery system. That requires us to be more strategic about adding facilities,” says Clark. “Having the product is one thing, but being able to get it where it’s needed is key to successful distribution.” Growth in the Delta The additional facilities bring huge opportunities for growth within the Delta region, says Larry Fortner, Delta Region sales director, CHS Crop Nutrients. “Retailers here don’t usually have much on-site storage, relying 14 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 on river terminals instead. Now we can store more product and more types of products. That’s important because the Delta has great crop diversity, which creates a bigger market for specialty fertilizers, including XLR-rate™ liquid starter fertilizer.” Liquid fertilizers are the fi rst choice for many crops, he says, making the liquid blending facility at the Greenville, Miss., terminal valuable. “It will allow us to do a better job of serving customers and will provide the infrastructure we need to make inroads into the Mississippi cotton market. “The strength of the former Terral sales force combined with CHS buying power will make us very competitive in this marketplace,” Fortner says. “We now have a dominant presence on the lower Mississippi.” The northern-most terminal addition at Owensboro, Ky., on the Ohio River, serves customers in the eastern Corn Belt, notes Clark. “The terminal provides storage to serve customers in Indiana and Kentucky.” Along with 12,000 tons of UAN storage, the Owensboro location has 12,000 tons of dry storage that will be operational by spring, says Sales and Supply Manager Larry Stivers. “CHS connections