Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith reminded farmers and
farm businesses to take extra care to prevent thefts of anhydrous ammonia
during the planting season.

Anhydrous ammonia is a common nitrogen fertilizer for crops. It also is a
target for thieves who use it to produce the street drug methamphetamine or
sell it on the black market. The number of anhydrous thefts in Kentucky and
other grain-growing regions has exploded in recent years; the Missouri
Highway Patrol estimates that Missouri averages at least one anhydrous theft
a night. Anhydrous thefts cost the victims money and create the danger of
exposure or explosion for victims, law-enforcement authorities,
firefighters, and the thieves themselves