Mike Flock has had his dike structure for liquid farm fertilizer storage in place for many years now. Flock, Corydon, has not had an incident with a leak or spill, and he hopes he never does. But he sleeps well, knowing that if there was an issue, his on-farm dike system would contain the fertilizer and not allow it to run off and cause an issue in any neighboring water sources.

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Tanks in a dike: These tanks hold liquid fertilizer, but if a leak occurred, the spill would be contained.

Flock installed the farm fertilizer dike structure several years ago. It's built of concrete and the floor is recessed below ground level. It's not covered, and water is pumped out using a sump. The recent heavy downpours that struck the Corydon area, delivering five inches or more at Flock's farm, looked like a small amount of water inside the high walls of the dike.

Should a problem have occurred with a leaking tank, the fertilizer would still have been contained and there would not have been a contamination issue, he says.

He stores both liquid N fertilizer for starter fertilizer and pop-up fertilizer in the dike. The tanks are divided fairly evenly between the two products. He does routine checks to ensure integrity of the tanks.

Having tanks and a diked system gives him flexibility in when he purchases product. It also allows him to have the fertilizer on the farm so that he has easy access to it when he is ready to plant. Now he doesn't have to rely on trucking it in from a retail fertilizer outlet during their busiest season of the year.

Capitalize on farm fertilizer purchasing opportunities. Read Farm Futures' Weekly Fertilizer Review by Bryce Knorr for the latest fertilizer news.

There are regulations involved in fertilizer storage diking, and it's important to inquire about state rules before erecting an on-farm fertilizer dike to make sure that the structure you build meets state guidelines.

Flock feels that building a concrete dike around his liquid fertilizer storage tanks was a smart investment for both the farm and the environment.