Kansas soil amendment company doubles in six months

When Robert Herrington opened PrairieFood in Pratt last November, he knew he wanted the company to expand. He is expected to grow his soil health manufacturing plant at a steady pace, not double its size in six months.

Herrington is on a mission. This Colby native, the co-founder of PrairieFood, wants to spread the word of healthy soil amendments, which help add nutrients to soil through a micro-carbon rich product.

“This is a 12 year overnight success,” he said. “We’re ramping up our production to begin doing commercialized operations. We have more demand than we can make product.”

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How PrairieFood works

This mixture, which combines manure with distiller’s grain from ethanol plants, feeds soil bacteria and fungi. By breaking down cellulose, proteins and starches into small molecules, the soil can absorb the nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorous.

“We make our product from cattle manure and wet grains,” Herrington said. “And we shred those products down to the carbon level, and we put it in a slurry that we deliver to the farmer to put on his fields.”