Sharply rising fuel, natural gas, and freight costs, plus supply chain issues, have been formidable challenges confronting Fertoz Ltd., a relatively small certified organic fertilizer manufacturer and supplier with mining operations primarily in British Columbia and corporate offices in Denver, Melbourne, and Vancouver, B.C.
Fertoz CEO Pat Avery told Green Markets that huge changes in global agricultural production over the past 2-3 years have forced Fertoz to respond with flexibility and resourcefulness. “The price of commercial fertilizer has doubled compared to a few years ago,” Avery said. “The supply chain has slowly been getting worse, certainly this last year. Truck freight is twice as much as last year.”
The recent Canadian trucking convoy protest complicated Fertoz’ fertilizer distribution when the port of entry between Sweet Grass, Mont., and Coutts, Alta., was blocked for several days, cutting the company’s shipping volume in half. “I never expected that in my lifetime,” Avery said.
Fertoz operates phosphate rock crushing and screening operations at Butte, Mont., Sugar City, Idaho, British Columbia, Alberta, and Mexico. A potential site is under consideration in Central Utah for crushing/screening and mining. “We decided to be organic and low carbon. We don’t use any chemically concentrated ammonia or urea,” he said, adding that keeps its costs down.
Among its mines is one in Monterrey, Mexico, where very high-quality phosphate is crushed and shipped north. It also mines at Wapiti and Fernie, B.C., and Deer Lodge, Mont.
Some 90 percent of Fertoz fertilizer shipments have been by truck, but with the trucking industry estimating it needs 50,000 more drivers and diesel costs rising, Fertoz has been ramping up its rail deliveries the past six months. Rail shipping rates are significantly lower than truck freight rates, he noted.
Fertoz has teamed with Trimble Inc., an industrial technology company in Calgary, for the past two years to enhance buying and trading carbon credits to offset emissions as part of its fertilizer programs. It also will play a large role in monitoring, reporting, and verifying protocols at the farm level, using Trimble technology.
“We’re working pretty hard on this. In 2022, we will have carbon contracts in place with our large dealers and a number of large growers,” Avery said. “We will also be conducting sustainable ag programs with major global and manufacturing companies that need significant offsets.”
Fertoz also is conducting field trials with several large food companies, such as General Mills, Whole Foods, Nestle, and Kraft, to gauge different levels of fertilizer applications.
Fertoz distributors include Parrish & Heimbecker, Phosul LLC, Federated Co-Operatives Ltd., GrowWest, Seven Springs, Providence Grain, Human Growth Solutions Inc., Western Alfalfa Milling Co. Ltd., Blair’s Fertilizer, Pacific Recycled Gypsum, and American Phosphate LLC.