Jackson Farmers Fertilizer Blend Plant
The Jackson Farmers Fertilizer Blend Plant is set into the hill. Delivery trucks drive up the circular driveway to the angled conveyor in back. Fertilizer blends are delivered to the dock in front.
The Jackson Farmers Blend Plant is a 3,000 ton (2,700 t) retail fertilizer blend plant near Holton, Kansas. The 100-foot (30.5 m) diameter by 35-foot (10.7 m) tall oblate ellipsoid dome is embedded into the hillside. Delivery trucks drive up the hill, around the dome, to a simple, angled conveyor which carries the delivered product to the apex of the dome. The product drops vertically onto a polar conveyor inside the dome. The conveyor rotates on a circular track to carry product to one of seven large storage bins.
The bin walls are steel-reinforced concrete created by single-sided forms and sprayed with high-density shotcrete—the same concrete used to create the dome. Product stored includes ammonium nitrate, diammonium phosphate, potash, pelletized lime, boron, and zinc. There is almost 94,000 cubic feet (2,660 m³) total storage.
Storage bins
- Bin A: 21,051 ft³ (596 m³)
- Bin B: 15,555 ft³ (440 m³)
- Bin C: 22,556 ft³ (639 m³)
- Bin D: 3,893 ft³ (110 m³)
- Bin E: 20,642 ft³ (585 m³)
- Bin F: 10,150 ft³ (287 m³)
- Bin G: 273 ft³ (8 m³)
Skid loaders operate in the central core beneath the polar conveyor, loading product from bins to the mixer at the delivery exit. The fertilizer is mixed according to the season, crop, weather, and soil needs and delivered to farmers throughout eastern Kansas.
Four of the seven storage bins shown from the top. A rotating “polar” conveyor sorts incoming fertilizer products across the storage bins.