BEATRICE – Farmers’ Cooperative of Dorchester will hear action in about two weeks on a plan to establish a commercial anhydrous ammonia operation near Adams, along the Gage-Lancaster County line.


That’s when the Gage County board is expected to vote on approval of a special use permit for the operation, which would be built in an Agriculture-One zone.
Ryan Franzluebbers of Farmer’s Co-op of Dorchester says the company is undertaking a safety improvement by consolidating operations and moving anhydrous tanks out of more populated areas.


"We've got a facility in Firth, Nebraska that sits down in the bottom of town...and it sits in close proximity to the ball fields in that community. We understand that it could be a potential hazard. So, we look to find areas to move those sites into a more favorable area. Another site is here, in Beatrice. Those vessels sit downtown there, by our grain elevator. During anhydrous ammonia season, we have a lot of trailers moving within the town. For obvious reasons, there's a lot of potential hazards. So, we have identified this site at Highway 43 and Gage Road, to move these two facilities to that site."


Two large ammonia tanks located in Beatrice next to the company’s grain handling facilities would be moved to the new site. Two other tanks that are currently located in Firth, would be decommissioned.


The new operation would have two 44,000 gallon-capacity storage tanks, about 40 tank trailers , a scale and small building. At a recent Gage County Planning Commission hearing, it was stated that the site is projected to ship 900 to 1,000 tons of product, annually.