At the Farm Progress Show this week, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced a $2 billion investment from Cronus Chemicals to construct a new fertilizer production facility in Tuscola, Illinois, a project more than a decade in the making.

“Having a fertilizer production facility so close to home will help us meet the rising demand and keep costs lower for farmers. Over the past several years, we’ve seen fertilizer prices skyrocket,” said Pritzker. “Now, Cronus Chemicals will help to stem the high tide of pricing by bringing an annual production capacity of 950,000 short tons of ammonia right in central Illinois.”

Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello says the farm economy is “extremely unstable” right now. “Anything we can do to help producers is extremely important right now,” said Costello. “The average tariff or tax on ag inputs has gone from one percent to 12 percent in seven months.”

Pritzker says the company has hung in there over a decade to make the project happen because it makes sense. “They’re locating it here because the farms are here, because the producers are here, because this is the place that the investment is going to pay off greatest for the company and that’s why they’ve chosen it.”