Loving fertilizer plant fire clouds business plans for farmers across Pecos Valley

Dec. 03--CARLSBAD -- A cold chill permeates the morning air while frost blankets trucks and anything else it can snag with its grip.Winter is fast approaching and farmers across the Pecos Valley are gearing up for their final harvests of the year. Already, however, the next year's business operations are being clouded after the uncertainty brought on by a recent fire at Loving's Questa Fertilizer facility.

As local producers collect their bounty, they must also prepare for uncertainty. The Questa facility, co-owned by David and Henry McDonald, sells custom-mixed liquid and solid fertilizer to approximately 600 farmers in the region of Southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. A handful of key supplies, including plastic drums used for mixing liquid fertilizer, were destroyed when a blaze ravaged multiple storage rooms on the premises on the evening of Nov. 25.

"I don't even know if I can get that rebuilt by March," said co-owner David McDonald.

McDonald is hopeful he can proceed with usual operations but emphasized that a he cannot set a time frame until damage estimates are determined by an insurance adjuster.

The uncertainty is enough to threaten plans for local farmers such as Gary Walterscheid, a co-owner of Bar-W Farms in Carlsbad.

"At the end of the year we will see how our profit was and (then) it's like a whole new process begins," he said. "Come Jan. 1 we will have to start making our plans, I'm concerned because he's been my best source for the last three years otherwise I have to go to either Artesia or Seminole, TX."

Fertilizer prices typically see a gradual rise over time as the calendar nears March.

Luckily for producers, this season's agricultural economy was not affected by the fire but things may have been different had it occurred closer to next year's season.

"I guess February would have been the worst (month) because (Questa Fertilizer) would have had product in the facility which (they) probably would have lost," Walterscheid speculated. "They wouldn't have had time to rebuild the (facility) to sell to us."

An investigator from the New Mexico State Fire Marshall's Office has planned another visit to Loving on Tuesday. The incident is still being investigated and no representative could be reached.

Reporter Zack Ponce can be reached at (575) 628-5546.

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