Speed, scale and strategy

Six years ago, when Billy Robertson first stepped into his role as manager of MFA Agri Services in Macon, Mo., the location was facing an uphill climb. He and his team made it their mission to overcome that challenge with a focus on customer partnering, moving more fertilizer in the fall and embracing technology to better serve the area’s farmers.

The location reached a major milestone in its remarkable turnaround with the opening of a state-of-the-art agronomy center this past summer. The 6,700-ton facility is more than three times the size of Macon’s old fertilizer plant—which dates to the 1960s—and features innovations that are already providing measurable benefits.

For example, a 24-ton tender truck can be loaded in eight to 10 minutes, compared to about 45 minutes previously. Semis that once took nearly an hour to unload now do so in under 10 minutes.

This speed isn’t just about convenience—it’s about capacity. It means more loads per day, less downtime for spreaders, more acres covered and, potentially, the need for fewer machines.

“It’s going to be a good asset for everybody in the area,” said MFA advisory board member Jamie Wilson, who farms near Macon. “It seems like our planting and fertilizing window gets smaller every year. Getting over more acres in a timely manner is huge.”

The Macon facility is one of several high-speed, high-volume agronomy centers MFA has built or upgraded in recent years, part of a long-term strategy to increase efficiency, consistency and service across its trade territory. These hubs are designed not only to move more tons of fertilizer faster but also to reduce overlap and leverage new technology that older facilities cannot accommodate.

“It’s the reality of doing business these days,” Robertson said. “Farmers have bigger equipment, so they’re doing things faster. They used to have eight-row planters. Now they’ve got 24-row planters. Some of them will plant their whole crop in 10 days. By doing this, I think we’ll be able to stay ahead or at least keep up with them.”

Service that stays on pace with the speed of farming is exactly what growers such as Mark White are eager to see.

“From what I understand, the quickness of the loadout should really increase efficiency in the field,” said White, who farms east of Macon and serves on the MFA advisory board. “They’ll be able to get around to more farmers in a day. Plus, with the expanded storage space, they’ll be able to keep more product on hand.”

The new agronomy center features nine fertilizer bays, ranging from a 200-ton capacity to the largest at 1,500 tons, which Robertson said will typically hold potash in the fall and SuperU in the spring. The facility has heated floors that help prevent moisture from forming on the concrete surface, reducing shrink and creating a safer, cleaner work environment. When fertilizer ingredients are off-loaded to the facility, an automated, laser-guided conveying system dispenses them into each designated bay.

“It blows my mind because each bay at the old plant only held 200 tons,” Robertson said. “Now, that’s the size of our smallest bay.”

At the heart of the facility is a declining weight blending system that provides high accuracy, speed and efficiency in producing custom fertilizer blends. Its six larger bins will accommodate various macronutrients, while two smaller bins are earmarked for micronutrients. A new 8-ton vertical blender offers added flexibility for such services as mixing forage seed and fertilizer.

The entire system can be controlled from a mobile tablet, allowing the plant operator to multi-task duties anywhere in and around the facility.

“Honestly, one person could run this place,” Robertson said. “You don’t even have to get off the loader when a semi arrives to deliver fertilizer or a tender needs to be filled. You just click and go. It’s going to make huge difference, especially when we get busy.”

In the past, he added, spreaders sometimes sat three or four hours a day waiting on product because of the time it took to get loaded and unloaded.

“Now, we’re hoping to cut that out entirely,” Robertson said. “We might even be able to do the same work with two machines instead of three. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Additional efficiencies are realized through FieldAlytics, an agronomy data and logistics software system that helps streamline MFA’s custom application services—from the time a farmer places an order to completion of the application in the field.

Making sure all these innovations work seamlessly goes beyond engineering and construction. MFA’s Information Technology Services (ITS) department was also intricately involved in the project, from the early planning stages all the way to final touches. For example, the ITS team used a new tool, the Ekahau Wi-Fi optimization program, to help place access points for best internet coverage throughout the fertilizer complex.

“Connectivity is critical to operating the automated features in a facility like Macon,” said Matt Boyce, MFA senior director of ITS. “Our team worked closely with the project managers and the technology companies to make sure we met their needs for communication while keeping the entire system secure.”

Along with the fertilizer plant, MFA also built a new office building that features a scaled-down showroom to house a limited inventory of popular products for walk-in customers. Next door, the previous showroom/office building is being converted into extra warehouse space.

Like other new agronomy centers MFA has built in recent years, the Macon facility will serve as a hub for the region. Robertson said its strategic location at the intersection of Highway 36 and 63 provides a centralized base to serve farmers in a broad radius of north- central Missouri. MFA’s New Cambria and LaPlata operations have been consolidated into Macon Agri Services and will transition to seasonal anhydrous ammonia facilities.

“We’re going to be covering more ground, but we should be able to do it with greater speed and reliability,” Robertson said. “We don’t yet realize how fast we’re going to be able to turn it. This fall will be the real test of what we can handle.”

Wilson said he views the new agronomy center as a major step forward that will serve MFA’s members well into the future. 

“This is an investment for a long time to come,” he said. “As far as efficiency and getting the product out, it’ll be a big improvement. A lot of tonnage went through that old building, but this new one sets us up to meet farmers’ needs not just today, but also for challenges down the road.” 

View more articles from this October/November 2025 Today's Farmer magazine.