Mosaic Pine Bend Fertilizer Terminal, Minnesota

This is a large phosphate storage terminal on the Mississippi River, supplying the agricultural regions of the upper Midwest with phosphates. The processed powdery substance, critical to industrial agriculture, is mined and processed at Mosaic’s facilities in central Florida. Next to the terminal to the north is a nitrate fertilizer terminal, owned by CF Industries, the nation’s largest supplier of nitrogen, manufactured primarily at gas plants in Louisiana. CF used to own the phosphate terminal next door too, but had to divest itself of its phosphate operations, as it was taking over too much of the combined fertilizer industry. The Mosaic company was created to take over the phosphate operations of CF in 2004, and is half owned by Cargill, the agricultural giant based in Minnesota. Mosaic, the largest producer of phosphates in the nation, was headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota, just down the road from Cargill, until it moved its headquarters closer to its mines in Tampa a few years ago.