Iowa and Iowa Fertilizer Company

A Local Employer
As the first world-scale greenfield nitrogen fertilizer facility built in the United States in more than 30 years, Iowa Fertilizer Company (IFCo) employed more than 3,500 workers to build the facility in southeast Iowa. From groundbreaking through the start of production, unemployment in Lee County dropped from 8.0% to 5.3%. Today, the unemployment rate in the county is down to 4.8%.

With 220 full-time employees today, IFCo will continue to drive meaningful economic growth for years to come. Additionally, IFCo’s presence in Wever County has resulted in more than 700 ancillary jobs that helped revitalize the economy of the surrounding area and have a lasting positive impact on the region.

A Trusted Corporate Citizen
As a key community partner in southeast Iowa and the region, IFCo has pursued philanthropic efforts organized around the three main pillars of local economic development, agriculture, and STEM educational endeavors.

In addition to supporting dozens of local charitable causes and organizations, IFCo contributed $250,000 to the Southeastern Community College’s Building the Dream Fund, $100,000 to the Fort Madison Sports Complex, and thousands more to support critical public safety, public health, and public education initiatives.

A Commitment to Safety and Environmental Stewardship
At IFCo, the safety of our operations, our employees, and our community is the foundation of our business. IFCo utilizes the latest and most reliable distributed control, early detection, and safety shutdown systems. The facility is designed and permitted to be the cleanest in the industry, utilizes the best available technologies to significantly reduce emissions and maintain permit limits far below other plants in the United States. As one example, the facility’s steam turbine generator captures 90 tons of excess steam every hour to produce 20 megawatts of electricity and recycle approximately 600,000 gallons of water every day.