CANNON FALLS, Minn. — What began as a Minnesota farm family looking to turn poultry waste into a fertilizer good for plants and the environment has turned into a company that ships its products nationwide and to 60 different countries in the world.
Cannon Falls-based
Sustane Natural Fertilizer
was one of 12 fertilizer plant projects that was
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announced last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is investing $83 million to enhance domestic fertilizer supply.
The family-owned company plans to use a $2,397,792 grant to enhance and expand its current facility and purchase new equipment to increase production.
USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Basil Gooden and Colleen Landkamer, Minnesota’s director of USDA Rural Development, were in Cannon Falls on Thursday, May 30, to hear from Sustane’s founder, CEO and president Craig Holden and other company leaders.
Gooden said fertilizer prices have almost doubled since the pandemic.
“The Biden-Harris administration is focused on this supply chain for fertilizer, and reducing the costs and making fertilizer more available,” he said. “(USDA) really wanted to make that significant investment in fertilizer companies.”
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USDA Under Secretary For Rural Development Basil Gooden and Colleen Landkamer, Minnesota’s director of USDA Rural Development, visit Sustane Natural Fertilizer’s plan in Cannon Falls, Minnesota on May 30, 2024.
Noah Fish / Agweek
The investment in Sustane, which specializes in products that can be used on certified-organic operations, also has an environmental impact, Gooden said.
“It’s a win-win,” he said. “I’m really just delighted that we were able to come here to learn more and to see it, and to show our support for such initiatives as well.”
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A turkey farmer at the time, Craig Holden came up with the idea for the company in the 1980s when he was looking for a solution to having an excess of manure on the farm.
“That’s me, 39 years and 39 pounds ago,” Holden told Gooden and Landkamer, pointing to his face on the cover of a farm magazine for regenerative agriculture in 1985. “A local agronomist suggested that we donate the manure and give the manure away to crop farmers that could benefit from the nutrients. But we literally could not give manure away. Crop farmers didn’t want it.”
Craig Holden, founder, CEO and president of Sustane Natural Fertilizer on the cover of a farm magazine in 1985.
Contributed / Sustane Natural Fertilizer
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Holden said he’d “never forget the look on the face” of the crop farmer across the road from him, who refused to take manure from his farm. Instead, he found ways like anaerobic composting to store manure safely to prevent disease transmission to flocks, but Holden said the costs were adding up.
“Even though we were able to get rid of it, at about 25 bucks a ton in those days, all of our income was consumed by transportation because we were handling this wet, humus, nutrient-rich product and transporting it only about 10 or 15 miles,” he said.
Blaize Holden, vice president of operations for Sustane, said that was when the family began to research the agronomic benefits of composted turkey litter.
“So we began dehydrating it and granulating it, and bagging it,” Holden said. “Now we ship it to over 60 countries around the world.”
Today, around 40 poultry farms in Minnesota and western Wisconsin contribute to the company’s products.
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Sustane is currently the only manure-based fertilizer that’s permitted to ship to Europe, Blaize Holden said, and the only U.S.-based organic fertilizer that’s permitted to ship to China. The company has around 50% of its customer base inside the U.S., with the other half international.
The company’s products are sold to a diverse range of customer populations from home gardeners to large-scale organic farms, and is used on areas to regrow grass and reclaim damaged or depleted soils.
Packaging for Sustane Natural Fertilizer.
Noah Fish / Agweek
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“We service agriculture, but we also service professional lawn and landscape, nursery and greenhouse, erosion control,” Holden said. “It’s a very high-quality, organic, sustainable product with low odor, low dust, so easy to handle.”
Holden said that products from Sustane Natural Fertilizer are used at exclusive properties, including the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Disney facilities, PGA Tour golf courses, and Premier League, MLB and NFL fields.
The USDA project funding will allow the company, which has been pushing against its capacity for several years, to expand
“We’re looking to increase fertilizer production capacity here in Cannon Falls, and we’re also building a second facility on-site for our seed treatment production,” Blaize Holden said. “We have developed markets all over the world, so we’re looking to be able to supply those better.”
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I am a general assignment agricultural reporter who covers everything from food to land, farm emergencies and co-op mergers to trade shows and 4-H fundraisers; using multiple elements of media. I prioritize stories that amplify the power of people.
As an ag reporter, I’ve covered the opioid crisis, herding dogs, trade wars, collapsed barns, COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant farmers, regenerative poultry, farmland transition, milking robots, world record pumpkins, cannabis pasteurization, cranberry country and horseradish kings.
I report out of northeast Rochester, Minnesota, where I live with my wife, Kara, and our polite cat, Zena. Email me at nfish@Agweek.com
Memphis Grizzlies (24-14, third in the Western Conference) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (20-17, seventh in the Western Conference)
Minneapolis; Saturday, 8 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota heads into a matchup with Memphis as winners of three games in a row.
The Timberwolves are 16-10 in conference matchups. Minnesota is third in the Western Conference at limiting opponent scoring, giving up just 107.2 points while holding opponents to 45.4% shooting.
The Grizzlies are 11-11 against Western Conference opponents. Memphis ranks second in the league scoring 56.9 points per game in the paint led by Jaren Jackson Jr. averaging 12.1.
The Timberwolves average 15.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.5 more made shots on average than the 13.6 per game the Grizzlies allow. The Grizzlies average 13.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.4 more made shots on average than the 12.5 per game the Timberwolves give up.
TOP PERFORMERS: Anthony Edwards is averaging 25.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists for the Timberwolves.
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Jackson is scoring 22.6 points per game with 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the Grizzlies.
LAST 10 GAMES: Timberwolves: 6-4, averaging 107.5 points, 46.0 rebounds, 23.8 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.0 points per game.
Grizzlies: 5-5, averaging 122.8 points, 49.5 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 9.1 steals and 5.6 blocks per game while shooting 46.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 120.0 points.
INJURIES: Timberwolves: Rob Dillingham: out (ankle).
Grizzlies: Cam Spencer: day to day (thumb), Marcus Smart: out (finger), Vince Williams Jr.: out (ankle), GG Jackson II: out (foot ).
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___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The final game of the NFL’s Wild Card weekend is set to take the Minnesota Vikings to LA to face the NFC West champion Rams Monday night at SoFi Stadium. The game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET, and tickets are still available to catch the action live.
How to get Vikings vs. Rams NFC Wild Card tickets: Seats are available for the NFC Wild Card matchup between the Vikings and Rams on secondary sites Vivid Seats, StubHub, SeatGeek and Viagogo.
As of Jan. 9, the starting prices were as follows:
Vivid Seats starting at $87
StubHub starting at $92
SeatGeek starting at $92
Viagogo starting at $91
#5 Minnesota Vikings (14-3) at #4 Los Angeles Rams (10-7)
NFC Wild Card Playoffs
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When: Monday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)
Where: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.
The Vikings had a shot to win the NFC’s top seed in Week 18, but fell short against the Detroit Lions, losing the NFC North Division and slipping to the No. 5 spot instead for a road matchup on Wild Card weekend. They are listed as 1-point favorites against the Rams after finishing the regular season with a 14-3 record and nine straight wins prior to last weekend’s 31-9 loss in Detroit. Though all the ingredients are in place for the Vikings to make a run, just three of their 14 victories this season came against playoff teams and one of their three losses came to the Rams (30-20) back in Week 8.
Minnesota Vikings vs. Los Angeles Rams NFC Wild Card tickets: Vivid Seats | StubHub | SeatGeek | Viagogo
The Rams found their way through an injury-marred start to the season and closed it out strong with five straight wins before resting starters in a Week 18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks (30-25). The highlight of that stretch and their season as a whole was a 44-42 shootout win over the Buffalo Bills that was fueled by two Kyren Williams touchdown runs and a big day from the receiving duo of Puka Nacua (12-162-1) and Cooper Kupp (5-92-1). The same combination of playmakers around quarterback Matthew Stafford are central to LA’s path to victory against Minnesota.
NFL Wild Card playoff picks: Consider Eagles, Commanders and Vikings
Lorenzo Reyes is back with his three best bets ahead of Sunday and Monday’s games during Wild Card Weekend.
There could still be one more football game played in Arizona this season. On Wednesday, the NFL announced that it has a contingency plan to potentially move Monday night’s wild-card game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to State Farm Stadium due to ongoing wildfires raging across Southern California.
For now, the league is preparing for the game to take place at SoFi Stadium, the Rams’ home in Inglewood. But if a change of location is deemed necessary, the Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale would play host, giving Arizona its first playoff game — excluding Super Bowls — since the 2015 divisional round.
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It would, however, not be the first time that NFL teams have had to move to Arizona. Here are the other times that similar moves have occurred:
2020: San Francisco 49ers
Due to the spread of COVID-19 in the fall of 2020, Santa Clara County briefly banned all contact sports. That forced the San Francisco 49ers to play three home games at State Farm Stadium. The team used fields near the stadium as its practice facility and stayed at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa across the street.
2007: San Diego Chargers
It would not be unprecedented if the Rams had to make Arizona home due to fires. The then-San Diego Chargers practiced at the Cardinals’ Tempe facility for three days in 2007 due to the Witch Creek Fire, which forced 40 members of the organization to evacuate their homes. The team returned to San Diego for their game that Sunday, defeating the Houston Texans.
2003: San Diego Chargers
Four years earlier, the Chargers had a Monday Night Football game against the Dolphins moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Again, the move was due to fires in Southern California, which caused poor air quality. The Chargers’ home field, Qualcomm Stadium, was also used as an evacuation center during the fires. Both teams flew to Arizona on game day for a game Miami won, 26-10. The NFL distributed 73,104 free tickets to the game.
