With an investment of $4.5 million, Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness has announced it is expanding the capacity of its Central Ferry, Wash., fertilizer distribution facility from 50,000 to more than 3.5 million gallons to increase efficiency.

The upgrade includes building three new million-gallon tanks for storing urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) and Thio-Sul, important liquid fertilizer solutions, and nitrogen and sulfer products, the company stated in a news release.

Along with increasing availability of the chemicals, the plant’s expansion means increased nutritional product selection, expanded rail access and shortened time frames from port delivery to growers’ fields, company officials contend.

“Our team will be able to get more yield-boosting products in customers’ hands, faster and more efficiently,” said Tim Watts, Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness’ district sales manager in the Pacific Northwest region. The company serves about 500 growers in the region.

The upgraded facility now can blend UAN and Thio-Sul with essential micronutrients and other products, meaning the company no longer needs to ship product back and forth to its retail locations for fertilizer blending, according to the release.

“The newly created operational efficiencies will benefit growers in the Inland Empire and on the Palouse who grow more than 2 million acres of wheat, peas, lentils, garbanzo beans and other crops within a 100-mile radius of the facility,” Watts said in a statement. “It will help us provide growers with opportunities for increased production and improved profitability.”

The Central Ferry terminal on the Snake River provides fertilizer to 10 Wilbur-Ellis retail locations in eastern Washington, north Idaho and northeast Oregon.

Wilbur-Ellis, which markets and distributes agricultural products, animal feed and specialty chemicals and ingredients, will celebrate its centennial in 2021. Subsidiaries’ sales are now over $3.1 billion, according to the release.