Lake City company scores $4M from feds for fertilizer

Marco Rubio and Rick Scott implore Tom Vilsack on inported Chinese citrus.

The Joe Biden administration is pouring millions of dollars into North Florida, via a grant designed to help a Lake City company spread its branded fertilizer regionally.

“Cog Marketers LTD, which also does business as AgroLiquid, will use a $4 million grant to build and equip a manufacturing facility in Lake City,” announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“The facility is expected to produce 2 million gallons of fertilizer components annually, which will provide domestic fertilizer to more than 200 independent retailers in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.”

AgroLiquid is based in Michigan, and the grant from the federal government is more than triple the $1.3 million the company paid just last year for a 48,355-square-foot production facility expected to employ 10-15 people.

It’s based at Columbia County’s North Florida Mega Industrial Park, a facility that benefited from two Job Growth Grant Fund awards in the Gov. Rick Scott era. The money went for a rail spur and a wastewater treatment plant.

“The Biden-(Kamala) Harris Administration and USDA are committed to bolstering the economy and increasing competition for our nation’s farmers, ranchers and small business owners,” Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

“The investments announced today, made possible through the Commodity Credit Corporation, will increase domestic fertilizer production and strengthen our supply chain, all while creating good-paying jobs that will benefit everyone.”

Money is being programmed to other states, including California, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington, in this effort designed to increase domestic food security.