David Ripplinger, Northern Corn Development
Preliminary economic and environmental models that estimate the value and greenhouse gas intensity of wet distillers grains used as fertilizer have been constructed. Public and private regional wet distiller’s grains and fertilizer prices have been assembled, as has fertilizer and WDGs input emissions data. The cost of transporting and applying WDGs as fertilizer is currently being estimated as is the impact of weather on WDGs logistics. A review of the actual plant uptake efficiency of conventional fertilizers and WDG is being conducted and will be used to inform application rates. Fertilizer and WDGs prices will be used to determine those conditions when the use of WDGs is profitable.