Location: Taneyville, Mo.
Owner: Charles Harris
History: Cattleman Charles Harris was looking for a way to fertilize his own land, but his idea soon turned into a business.
“We were trying to get fertilizer when we wanted it, and I was just going to put in a bay or two for myself, then the neighbors started catching wind of it and wanted to do the same,” Charles recalled. “We ended up having a full-blown fertilizer plant. We get it in and blend it, just like any other fertilizer plant. The other fertilizer plants were just too far away, and they move a lot of tonnage, and it was too hard to get it when you wanted it, and you end up fertilizing late.”
The five “Hs” in 5H Fertilizer is for Charles, his wife Andrea, and daughters Serena (Ervin), Sydney and Kennedy (Alcorn).
Products and Services: “We have two blenders and can blend with a broadleaf herbicide; we use DuraCore and a surfactant. If you don’t want the DuraCore, like if you’re putting it on alfalfa, we can blend it so there is no residual,” Charles said. “We have buggies we loan out, just like any other plant.”
5H Fertilizer also works with a contractor to do custom applications. The plant offers urea, phosphate, potash, pelletized lime, ammonium sulfate, trio or K-Mag (a potash, magnesium and sulfur mix).
When producers come in with a soil test, 5H Fertilizer will take those results and blend what is needed.
“We have software we use, and it will tell us the exact blend, give us a mix sheet, and tell us the pound per cubic foot so we can set the buggy up,” Charles said.
5H can also incorporate seed into fertilizer for broadcast seeding.
“We don’t stock a lot of seed, but if someone knows what they want, we can order it and get it coming in a day or two and blend it how they want,” Charles said.
Business has gone well for 5H Fertilizer since opening in 2021.
“The first season was really pretty good; fertilizer prices were between $300 and $400 (per ton),” Charles said. “By the end of the season, it was climbing up to $500-something a ton. By the second season, when prices were upwards of $1,000 a ton; that was tough. This past season, 2023, it was good; we sold a lot of fertilizer at $600 to $700 a ton.”
Customers are primarily livestock producers looking to improve their pastures.
“We do have some alfalfa producers and we have sold some fertilizer as far away as Willard to people with crops, but it’s generally people who raise livestock,” Charles said.
