Agricultural inputs provider American Vanguard Corp., Newport Beach, Calif., has recently announced that via subsidiaries it has acquired two companies – biological crop inputs provider Agrinos, Davis, Calif., and Australian crop protection company AgNova Technologies Pty Ltd., Box Hill North, Victoria.
“American Vanguard is committed to enhancing agricultural productivity by providing growers with products and application systems that facilitate yield improvement, cost savings, and environmental sustainability,” said American Vanguard Chairman and CEO Eric Wintemute. “In addition to our leading position in crop protection, we intend to expand our global participation in bio-nutritional inputs that contribute to improving soil health. The acquisition of Agrinos is a major step toward achieving that strategic objective.”
He said the Agrinos portfolio will complement the company’s Greenplants® liquid nutrition products, which have enjoyed successful growth in the Central American market. Additionally, he said Agrinos biostimulant products are tailored perfectly for use in American Vanguard’s SIMPAS® prescription application system. He said in field trials conducted over the last eight years, Agrinos technology has delivered yield increases on the order of 5-10 percent on row crop applications in corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton, and 10-17 percent in many high-value crops such as almonds, peanuts, tomatoes, melons, and grapes.
Agrinos’ intellectual property includes nearly 50 patents issued and nearly 100 pending worldwide. It has two manufacturing facilities – a microbial input manufacturing facility located in Oregon, and a manufacturer of biostimulants in Mexico.
American Vanguard said AgNova is focused on serving customers primarily in the value-added fruit and vegetables segment of the Australian market. It has a growing product portfolio and ample R&D resources to create a pipeline of tailored solutions to meet the needs of Australian growers.
“American Vanguard is committed to increasing its existing footprint in the Australian and Asia/Pacific agrochemical market,” said Wintemute. “The team at AgNova has done an excellent job of establishing their company as an innovative, reliable supplier, and we look forward to building on that foundation of success going forward.
“In addition to a strategic focus on high-value fruit and vegetable segments, the combined commercial strength of American Vanguard and AgNova can be used to expand SIMPAS® prescription application technology, Greenplants® liquid nutrition products, and multiple biostimulants from our recent acquisition of Agrinos,” he added. “Furthermore, we will gain global rights to a number of AgNova owned products that could offer significant commercial opportunities to AMVAC operations in many other countries.”