UNION TOWNSHIP — Wanting something more state-of-the-art, Nutrien Ag Solutions plans to develop a new agricultural retail facility at the intersection of Gleason and Prairie Roads northeast of Wilmington.
On a 20-acre lot, it will include three buildings — dry fertilizer, warehouse, and office — plus a 1-million-gallon liquid fertilizer tank, along with site improvements such as a detention pond and a contained loading area.
Nutrien Ag Solutions currently operates ag retail facilities at Melvin and in Sabina.
Those sites are dated, having been built in the 1960s and ’70s, said Steve Emery, division manager for Southern Ohio Nutrien.
“We are building [the new facility] for the growers of 2030 and beyond,” Emery said.
Moreover, the company was looking to get away from the traffic congestion at the Melvin location for the safety of customers and employees, he said. And the Sabina site is actually inside the town, and as an agricultural business a site outside town puts them close to their customers.
Plans call for consolidating the Melvin and Sabina operations at the new site that sits next to the boundary line of Union and Richland Townships in Clinton County.
Emery said as their business evolved and their customers’ businesses evolved, Nutrien sought a more timely and efficient facility in order to provide the top-line services they want to provide.
The hope is to begin site work next spring, and by fall to have the new facility operating.
Access to the site will be through two approaches from Gleason Road, none from Prairie Road, per recommendations by the Clinton County Engineer’s Office.
The new office building will sit at the front of the site on Gleason Road. The larger, more utilitarian buildings are set further back from the road.
About 6.8 acres will be kept as open space, to assist in maintaining the character of the agricultural district.
Staff at the Clinton County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) received four public comments about the project. “Three inquiries were out of curiosity for the development and one was opposed to any development in that area,” according to a CCRPC staff report in July.
Nutrien Ag Solutions’ products include seeds and seed treatment, fertilizers and nutritionals, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and a digital hub product.
Nutrien Ag Solutions is the retail business of Nutrien, a provider of crop inputs and services. The brand was established in 2018 after Nutrien was formed through the merger of PotashCorp and Agrium.
Prior to the launch of the new brand, the company was known in the United States as Crop Production Services, the retail arm of Agrium. Crop Production Services, which itself had been formed through a merger of four different companies, had established itself as a crop input retailer in the nation, with more than 900 retail locations and 7,500 employees.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
