{"id":48815,"date":"2025-08-26T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=48815"},"modified":"2025-08-26T14:03:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T18:03:02","slug":"tessenderlo-kerley-opens-state-of-the-art-fertilizer-plant-in-defiance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/tessenderlo-kerley-opens-state-of-the-art-fertilizer-plant-in-defiance\/","title":{"rendered":"Tessenderlo Kerley Opens State-of-the-Art Fertilizer Plant in Defiance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Defiance, OH \u2013 Under bright skies described as \u201cChamber of Commerce weather,\u201d community leaders, company executives, and residents gathered Thursday, August 21 to celebrate the grand opening of Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc.\u2019s newest fertilizer production facility in Defiance. The ribbon cutting marked the culmination of a three-year journey that began with a groundbreaking during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategically built on a 50-acre site, the new facility is designed to produce key crop nutrients including Thio-Sul\u00ae, KTS\u00ae, and K-Row 23\u00ae, which will serve farmers and growers across the United States and Canada. Company officials emphasized that the plant incorporates cutting-edge technology aimed at conserving both energy and water, making it the only facility of its kind in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis facility is beyond infrastructure\u2014it\u2019s a symbol of our promise to farmers, growers, and communities,\u201d said Russell Sides, Executive Vice President of Tessenderlo Kerley. \u201cIt took collaboration, communication, and teamwork to bring us here today. Despite COVID, supply chain disruptions, and the challenges of Midwest weather, we never stopped moving forward. We\u2019re proud to expand in Defiance and deliver science-driven nutrients that grow healthy, productive crops sustainably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defiance Mayor Mike McCann reflected on how the project diversifies the city\u2019s economy. \u201cFor most of my life, Defiance has been a GM town, a car town,\u201d McCann said. \u201cBut it\u2019s wonderful to see us begin to diversify with this investment in agriculture\u2014our largest industry. This facility is exactly the kind of growth our community needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was made possible through the generosity and foresight of the Plummer family, who played a pivotal role in establishing the industrial park where the facility now stands. During the ceremony, TKI presented the City of Defiance with the original groundbreaking shovel and announced that a commemorative stone will be placed on-site to honor the Plummer family\u2019s contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The celebration concluded with the ceremonial ribbon cutting, followed by guided tours of the plant. Plant manager Charlie delivered a lighthearted safety briefing\u2014\u201cFirst off, don\u2019t run with scissors\u201d\u2014before welcoming guests to see the facility up close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With full-scale operations now underway, Tessenderlo Kerley\u2019s Defiance plant is expected to create new jobs, strengthen regional agriculture, and serve as a model for sustainable fertilizer production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the story of a family\u2019s dream and a vision that became reality,\u201d Sides said. \u201cTeamwork really does make the dream work, and we\u2019re honored to now be part of the Defiance community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defiance, OH \u2013 Under bright skies described as \u201cChamber of Commerce weather,\u201d community leaders, company executives, and residents gathered Thursday,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,6],"tags":[9509,15524,14990,15526,15520,15523],"class_list":["post-48815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-community","category-community","tag-defiance-ohio","tag-kts","tag-mike-mccann","tag-russell-sides","tag-tessenderlo-kerley","tag-thio-sul"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Tessenderlo-2-1.jpg?fit=1016%2C466&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-cHl","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 12:49:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48818,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48815\/revisions\/48818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}