Busch Farms didn’t run any tank trailers eight years ago. Today, the Belvidere, Illinois-based business hauls edible oils, sweeteners, chocolate, and other food-grade products in 80 stainless-steel tank trailers—which all need regular cleaning to continue running down the road. And the best way to ensure uptime is with an always-available in-house tank wash.
Of course, designing and building a tank-cleaning facility comes with challenges, including permitting, system selection, and the substantial investment required. But, for Busch Farms owner Mike Busch, the benefits far outweighed the costs—particularly when it came to protecting his company’s growth potential. “We had to take control,” Busch said. “We needed a go-to location, a default facility we could rely on, because food-grade is a tight-knit market, and a lot of carriers own these tank washes.
“So I wanted to make sure I secured our place at the dinner table.”
Busch and his team decided to move forward with the project during the construction of the company’s new shop, so they doubled the facility’s size, settled on a system in late 2021, and finally started cleaning tanks in July 2024, saving Busch Farms time and money, improving uptime and driver satisfaction, and sending a clear message to customers and competitors. “We’re here to stay,” Busch said. “We’re not just a trucking company.
“We have the resources to deliver safe, reliable service.”
The carrier
Busch entered the bulk industry by accident. An entrepreneur with businesses in multiple industries, including farming, he formed Busch Farms in 2010 as an agricultural operation, so he already had the name, the trucks—which he used for hauling hopper and dump trailers—and the desire to seize opportunities. “My sister-in-law worked for an ethanol producer, and she was telling me on Thanksgiving in 2017 she had excess corn syrup she needed to get rid of,” Busch recalled. “I knew nothing about hauling liquids. I didn’t have a tanker endorsement on my CDL; I didn’t even own a tanker at the time. But I said, ‘I’ll take it.’ She said, ‘You will?’ and I said, ‘Yeah—but you’re going to pay me.’
“That was a Thursday, and Monday morning she called and said, ‘Where do you want it?’”
An insightful conversation with the driver who delivered the corn syrup convinced Busch to buy his first tank trailers in January 2018, and soon after he won his first loads with CHS. Today, the converted tank truck carrier employs 70 people between its Chicago-area headquarters and five satellite locations all dedicated to transporting sweeteners, edible oils, and other liquid food-grade products across the U.S. and into Canada for leading food manufacturers like ADM, Cargill, and Primient. “We decided to keep using the Busch Farms name because everybody wants to work for a farmer,” Busch quipped.
Busch Farms’ fleet includes 48 company-owned Peterbilt and International trucks, 10 owner-operator trucks, and 80 tankers, including dedicated Kosher and non-food-grade trailers. Most of the trailing fleet, including 15 tankers purchased last year, comes from STE, which opened a new plant in January in Beloit, Wisconsin. “They’re close, they’re easy to work with, and they have a nice product, so we’re very happy with them.”
Critically, the operation also boasts plenty of land for tank-cleaning activities.
The Belvidere location encompasses 180 acres, with much of it designated for growing corn, soybeans, and wheat. Busch set aside a 15-acre tract for the combined tank wash and shop facility and tabbed The Peacock Company to supply the wash equipment after seeing its single-pass system while touring wash facilities. “We thought it would be more turnkey with less maintenance, and easier to work with, vs. a boiler-powered system,” explained Chris Willis, Busch Farms equipment manager.
The cleaner
The Busch Farms and Peacock teams officially partnered in late 2021. System Installation commenced in July 2022. “Like a lot of our customers, Busch Farms wanted the ability to wash its own trailers to save on the money and time spent at other wash locations,” said Miranda McMas, special projects manager at Peacock. “Being able to wash your own trailers makes your fleet more efficient.”
The new 32,000-sq.-ft., Amish-built building features eight bays—four for truck and trailer maintenance and minor repairs, and four for cleaning. Busch Farms currently operates only two wash bays (one food-grade, one non-food-grade) but the other two are pre-plumbed for easy expansion. “Our plan is to eventually have a designated sweetener bay, and then we’ll probably add an ag bay or additional food-grade bay, and use our non-food-grade bay for non-hazardous and ag products,” Busch said.
Cleaning equipment includes Peacock’s Model 660 internal tank cleaning unit and Model 3126 exterior pressure washer. The 660 is a complete stainless-steel system that includes the frame, tanks, piping, and coil. “It’s a high-pressure, low-volume unit that runs at 600 psi with 32 gallons per minute at the spinner head,” McMas said. “The system has a 4.2 million-btu burner that allows for on-demand heating without the need for additional boilers or holding tanks. Wash temperatures of 200-plus degrees allow for Kosher certification, while meeting the standards of countless other food-grade cleans.”
Busch Farms runs most of its washes at 210 degrees Fahrenheit but can steam trailers at 300 degrees F to eliminate stubborn residue, and dual spinners provide complete cleaning coverage. “They spin 360 degrees in both directions, and we run them slow. So they’re spinning slowly, but the pressure is very high,” Willis said. “That way it covers the entire interior and breaks down all the heavy buildup.”
The expandable system currently includes vats for detergent and sanitizer. A PLC-powered controller sits atop a double-sided Darlington Dairy safety rack that is taller than a standard rack, ensuring it won’t bump into a trailer when folded down. The facility, designed with help from Ceroni Piping and Jake’s Electric, also features in-floor heating, spray-in insulation, and stainless-steel drains; and essential safety equipment includes air-quality monitors, harnesses, and custom ladders for tank entries.
“We have no regrets,” Willis said.
“We might adjust a few things at a new location, but for what we have, and what we’ve accomplished, we’re very happy.”
The conveniences
Permitting wasn’t a problem for Busch Farms, largely because of how the company is able to dispose of its non-hazardous wastewater—on its own farmland. It already was mixing heel with manure and applying it to fields without growing crops. Now it’s doing the same with rinse water, deterring contamination and saving money. “That’s what saves us at our facility,” Willis said. “We go through a lot of water, so if we were dumping it down the city drain, and paying by the gallon, we’d probably have to reuse the water.
“But for us, it’s a really like a source of fertilizer.”
Heel disposal was the largest expense at third-party facilities, especially when it came to chocolate, Willis added. “That’s what pushed us into building a tank wash,” he said. “A lot of tank washes won’t even handle chocolate.” Prohibitive availability and costs previously led Busch Farms employees to begin washing out chocolate heel by hand—before sending trailers out for an “official” cleaning. “We don’t have to do that anymore, which is great,” White said. “It also saves us a lot of time.”
Creating wash recipes is faster, too. The Peacock system arrives with programmed cleaning combinations, but entering new ones takes only a few minutes, White said. Creating a wash ticket is equally expeditious. The process begins with entering a trailer’s identifier and ends with inputting the seal numbers. White then doublechecks completed printouts. Most washes take 15-30 minutes, with 10-15 minutes to dry. “The system is very user friendly,” White said. “It doesn’t take long to learn the basics.”
Busch Farms now cleans up to 15 tank trailers per day on weekdays and Saturday mornings, ensuring drivers remain happy and productive. Instead of idling at third-party facilities, they drop a dirty trailer, hook up a clean one, and quickly return to the road. “They love it,” White said. “And they tell us they notice a big difference in the cleanliness of our trailers compared to the other places they visit.”
Most importantly, Busch is equally appreciative of his new tank cleaning facility.
The company can prepare trailers in advance; react swiftly to unanticipated complications, like schedule changes, equipment failures, and the rare rejections—and capitalize on opportunities to expand food-grade services whenever they arise. “Having our own in-house tank wash is a life saver,” Busch said.
“It gives us the ability to execute when needed.”
