Building a local, renewable ammonia ecosystem in Minnesota

TalusAg, CleanCounts and Central Farm Service partner to deploy two production sites

Click to learn more. Talus, CleanCounts and CFS will partner to deploy modular ammonia fertilizer production in Minnesota. Source: Landus. 

The trio – technology provider Talus, certification provider CleanCounts (formerly M-RETS), and Minnesota/Iowa farmer’s co-operative Central Farm Service (CFS) – plan to deploy two Talus10 modular ammonia synthesis plants in the US state, producing up to 20 tons per day of anhydrous ammonia for use as fertilizer by local farmers (and as a fuel for power generation).

Renewable electricity inputs from utility Blue Earth Light & Water will power each site. The two sites will provide a supply of ammonia covering more than two-thirds of CFS’ annual ammonia sales, enough to apply across 100,000 total acres. The partners note that the project is still pending on financial support from the Renewable Development Account (RDA), which will be decided in Minnesota’s current Legislative Session. Registry operator CleanCounts will facilitate the issuance, retirement, and transacting of Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) for ammonia produced at the two sites, transparently verifying the carbon intensity of the final product.

Ammonia prices have swung by more than 300% in recent years. Local production gives our member-owners a level of control and predictability they’ve never had before—and it strengthens the economic resilience of every farm we serve.

KC Graner, CEO of Central Farm Service, in CleanCounts’ official press release, 5 Mar 2026

Local ammonia production is the future of agricultural fertilizer. By producing ammonia where it’s used, we ensure reliable supply, reduce transportation costs, and provide price stability to one of American farmers’ biggest variable costs.

Hiro Iwanaga, Co-founder & CEO of TalusAg, in CleanCounts’ official press release, 5 Mar 2026

As one of the world’s largest clean energy registries, CleanCounts has spent nearly 20 years serving our nonprofit mission focused on trust, transparency, and market integrity. Certificates for clean ammonia will give all market participants confidence that a verified amount of ammonia has been produced using zero or other low-emissions methods.

CleanCounts CEO Ben Gerber, in his organisation’s official press release, 5 Mar 2026

By supporting initiatives like Talus and the use of credible registries such as CleanCounts, PepsiCo aims to advance lower-carbon, locally produced fertilizer solutions that can help strengthen supply chain resilience and deliver climate benefits for agriculture.

Margaret Henry, VP Sustainable Agriculture at PepsiCo, in CleanCounts’ official press release, 5 Mar 2026

In early 2025, TalusAg completed a one-ton-per-day local ammonia production project in Boone, Iowa. The project was completed with Landus, an Iowa-based agriculture cooperative.

Making better use of Minnesota’s renewable resources

As part of the project, the Great Plains Institute and the University of Minnesota research outpost West Central Research and Outreach Center (the location of the university’s flexible ammonia demonstration plants) will further work with Minnesota grid data to optimize renewable energy inputs and “avoid wind power curtailment”. Unlike most states, owners of wind turbines in Minnesota pay property tax based on the turbines’ annual production – meaning that any curtailed output is a lost revenue opportunity for the state. “Behind-the-meter” generation of local ammonia offers a solution to this. Strategically-located renewable ammonia production plants offer an opportunity to utilize wind power in the case of grid congestion.

This project is exactly what the Renewable Development Account was created to support: practical, commercially available innovation that strengthens Minnesota’s economy while making better use of the energy resources we already have.

By pairing local ammonia production with identifying the specific areas of the grid with surplus wind generation, this project tackles wind curtailment, supports distributed energy resources, and delivers real value to farmers and rural communities. It’s a bipartisan win that’s good for agriculture, good for energy reliability, and good for keeping dollars and jobs here in Minnesota rather than sending them out of state or overseas.

George Damian, Director of Government Affairs at Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, in CleanCounts’ official press release, 5 Mar 2026