Iowa Fertilizer Co. donates $250K to Lee County

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. will donate $250,000 to the Lee County Career Advantage Center, a workforce training space in Montrose.

The center was opened earlier this year as a collaboration among the Keokuk, Fort Madison and Central Lee school districts, as well as Southeastern Community College and the Lee County Economic Development Group, to provide students hands-on experience in career fields that include carpentry, health and engineering, WGEM reported in March.

“This donation will help our community’s ongoing efforts to provide more skills and training to local residents to improve our economy long-term and provide a stronger pipeline of trained workers in the years to come,” Dennis Fraise, president and CEO of the Economic Development Group, said in a prepared statement.

Iowa Fertilizer Co. has made other large donations in Eastern Iowa, including $250,000 donation to the community college’s Building the Dream Fund, the news release said.

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. opened in Wever, about seven miles north of Fort Madison, in 2017.

The plant produced nearly 2 million tons of fertilizer last year as well as 700,000 tons of diesel exhaust fluid, which is added to diesel gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, officials told The Gazette in August.

Plant owner, multinational OCI NV, reported $6.3 billion in revenue in 2021, up 82 percent from $3.47 billion in 2020.

The company’s 2022 second-quarter report said leaders anticipate another big year amid shortages in fertilizer imports from abroad.

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