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AURI News and Events - 6/1/2001
Unique fertilizer helps protect Minnesota’s liquid assets.
Alexandria, Minn. — A new fishy fertilizer can green lakeshore
lawns and keep lakes clean at the same time. Bio Builder of Alexandria
is manufacturing a phosphorous-free fertilizer made from corn distiller’s
dried grain and rough fish. Thrivin’ Natural and Organic Turfgrass
Fertilizer eliminates phosphorus runoff, giving lakeshore owners
a way to grow green grass rather than green lakes. The environmentally
friendly product was developed with help from AURI by Josh Zeithamer
of Alexandria, a 19-year-old college student and entrepreneur. Excess
lawn fertilizer washing into surface waters promotes algae blooms
that suffocate game fish, destroy water clarity and ruin swimming
and boating. Phosphorus, an element in nearly all lawn fertilizers,
is the biggest culprit. However, phosphate free fertilizers can
be difficult to find. Josh Zeithamer saw an opportunity. So the
summer before his senior year of high school, he formed Bio Builder
and set out to create a phosphate-free fertilizer. By that time,
he already had several years of experience in the fertilizer industry
having worked with his father, Alexandria businessman Alan Zeithamer,
who manufactures fertilizer from liquefied carp and bullheads. The
Zeithamer’s hit on the idea of blending the liquid fertilizer
with distiller’s dried grain to produce a dry product for turf
grass. A co-product of ethanol processing, distiller’s dried
grain is cheap, low in phosphorus, and a good source of slow-release
nitrogen. Currently, it is sold for animal feed. Fertilizer, Josh
says, “is a totally new use.” For more information, contact
Jody Koubsky at the AURI Central Office in Morris at (320) 589-7280.
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