All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

Corteva Stops Sales of Dicamba Herbicide

News, News Briefs

Corteva Agriscience, Wilmington, Del., announced in late February that it has decided to discontinue sales of its dicamba herbicide FeXapan® in the U.S. and Canada. FeXapan’s registration was canceled last June for the 2020 growing season, along with Bayer’s XtendiMax and BASF’s Engenia dicamba herbicides (GM June 5, 2020).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in October announced its approval of new five-year registrations for XtendiMax and Engenia, but not for FeXapan (GM Oct. 30, 2020). EPA also extended the registration of a fourth dicamba herbicide, Syngenta’s Tavium Plus VaporGrip Technology.

Corteva said it will focus instead on its Enlist® weed control portfolio. “We continue to see strong demand and broad adoption of Enlisttechnology for seed and Enlistherbicide crop protection solutions,” the company said. “This decision allows Corteva to focus customer and applicator training, sales, and distribution resources on our leading Enlistweed control system.”

Corteve said it will continue to support customers who have selected Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® technology from a Corteva seed brand. Those customers may use dicamba herbicides offered through other brands, while still accessing other soybean herbicides from Corteva and benefiting from the strong yields of Corteva brand dicamba-tolerant soybean products,” the company said.

U.S. EPA – Management Brief

Management Briefs, U.S.

The U.S. Senate on March 10 confirmed Michael S. Regan as the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator. Regan began his career at EPA and worked in environmental and renewable energy advocacy before becoming secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality. The appointment of Regan was applauded by both The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and the Agricultural retailers Association (ARA).

“TFI welcomes Administrator Regan’s established record of listening to all stakeholders, a history of working to find practical solutions to environmental issues, and of using sound science and data to guide the decision-making process while serving in North Carolina’s top environmental post,” said President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch. “We feel confident that Administrator Regan possesses the skills and leadership necessary to tackle tough issues while ensuring the fertilizer industry can continue to innovate to lessen environmental impacts as we help to grow the food, fuel, and fiber to feed our country and world.”

“ARA applauds the Senate’s confirmation of Administrator Regan,” said ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock. “He has a proven record of listening to all stakeholders, including the agricultural industry, and making decisions based on sound science and risk-based, peer-reviewed data. We look forward to working with the administrator and his team to continue to support policies that will benefit the environment while allowing ag retailers and their farmer customers to conduct their operations with necessary modern agricultural tools. This will ensure a safe, affordable, and abundant domestic food and fuel supply is readily available.”

More Ag Businesses Join Agrellus Sales Platform

Uncategorized

Agrellus Inc., the Lubbock-based e-commerce business and online marketplace for crop inputs, has added two more businesses – Micro-Bac International in Round Rock, Texas, and 1Source Ag in Toluca, Ill. – to its sales platform.

Micro-Bac has been in business for more than 30 years providing bacterial bio-remediation and environmental cleanup products from its manufacturing facility near Austin, Texas. 1Source Ag is an agricultural inputs supplier in Illinois.

“For almost 40 years, Micro-Bac has been committed to serving ranchers and oil producers with our innovative microbiological products,” said Braden Gilbert, Vice President of Sales. “In our pursuit to provide safe environmental solutions, we have recently released a line of bacterial products for farming operations that we are excited to bring to farmers via the Agrellus platform. We believe our 100 percent organic product will create an abundance of success for many farmers all across the nation.”

Agrellus has been expanding the number of platform partners in recent weeks. In late February, the company reported the addition of several ag retail companies, including Crescent Star Ag, Spearman, Texas; Horton Seed Services, Leoti, Kan.; and Wells Ag Supply, Fonda, Iowa (GM March 5, p. 30).

Agrellus offers seed, fertilizer, chemicals, irrigation parts, fuel additives, and custom application services from its online platform, which was launched in early 2017. Agrellus utilizes existing ag retailers and retail locations on its online and mobile platform, and charges no membership fee for participating retailers or grower members.

FBN Launches Animal Health and Nutrition Platform

News, News Briefs

Farmer’s Business Network Inc. (FBN®), San Carlos, Calif., the direct-to-farm ag tech platform and farmer network, announced the acquisition of Prairie Livestock Supply and ProPig/ProCattle, two animal health and nutrient businesses based in Worthington, Minn.

Prairie Livestock Supply provides pharmaceuticals for swine, beef, dairy, and poultry. The company employs 40 veterinarians, animal health sales specialists, and nutritionists. FBN said the acquisition will give members in select states access to clinical veterinary services for beef, swine, and dairy through a partnership with Southwest Veterinary Services, a new offering made possible by the acquisition.

“The combined capabilities we can now bring to the table can help solve the most complex animal health challenges, whether it’s for a 100-head or 100,000-head operation,” said Steve Dudley, DVM, CEO and veterinarian at Prairie Livestock Supply. “We are excited to extend our network of producers, veterinarians, manufacturers, and technologists as we bring more choice and transparency to livestock operators nationwide.”

FBN said the acquisitions market the launch of its animal health and nutrition platform, which will provide members with a full line of animal health medications and supplies from branded and generic manufacturers; veterinary services and autogenous vaccine capabilities through Southwest Veterinary Services; feed supplies, including dry mineral, liquid supplements, medicated feeds, and lick tubs; and nutritional services. FBN said it is offering zero percent interest financing on all animal health and feed purchases.

“Independent family livestock producers are at a critical crossroads,” said Charles Baron, FBN VP of Livestock and co-founder. “Improving both the producer economics and environmental sustainability of livestock is the best way to ensure farms are family run for generations to come. FBN is now uniquely able to do both.”

ICL Updates on MOP, Polyhalite Markets, Capacity Increases

Israel, News, News Briefs, Polyhalite, Potash, Specialty

ICL Group CFO Kobi Altman told analysts on March 4 that the group assumes potash demand will continue to be healthy, fundamentals remain positive, and demand will continue to grow. He was speaking at Bank of America’s Global Agriculture and Materials Conference on March 4.

Altman expects much better potash prices this year. “We’ve already seen this, currently, nice increases, in the U.S., in Brazil versus the first half of 2020, where I think we marked kind of a 15 years’ bottom for pricing,” he said.

The CFO also pointed to the better price environment in the annual contract market, with the China contract price up $27/mt and India up $17/mt.

Like other suppliers, Altman said ICL believes the lack of follow-up signings following Belarus Potash Co.’s (BPC) settling new supply contracts with customers in both countries is because other suppliers are “waiting and seeing,” and also that there is not a lot of inventory in the channels.

ICL up until the end of last year had no potash inventory and is selling what it produces, he said, which he believes is also the situation with other suppliers.

ICL President and CEO Raviv Zoller told analysts last month that the group was in no rush to finalize contracts in the Asian market (GM Feb. 12, p. 17), a position Altman re-iterated this week.

At the beginning of this year, ICL had set price guidance for the group looking at around $270/mt for granular potash and about $250/mt for standard product; however, the company noted that since then there has been some improvement in the overall pricing environment.

Altman said that in general, the price environment that ICL saw for potash in the first part of 2020 was below an economical viable range, and did not reflect a sufficient return on investment for the existing potash players.

“The current price environment is around mid-cycle level,” he said. “So, I believe a world-wide average price of around $300/mt is the longer-term average that we can expect. And these prices provide reasonable return to existing players.”

He said ICL believes the existing potash capacity that is available today is enough to satisfy the world demand for “the next decade at least,” and it does not believe that an average price of $300/mt can justify large investments that would be required for greenfield projects.

With regard to its own potash production capacity, ICL said it is ramping up its Spanish operation toward 1 million mt, which will take group-wide potash production capacity toward the end of this year to around 5 million mt/y – “maybe 5-plus million mt.”

ICL said last month it expected potash production at Sodom at the Dead Sea to be between 3.9-4 million mt in 2021 (GM, Feb. 12, p. 31)

“We believe this will well-position ICL as a player in the potash market,” said Altman, adding that ICL is not looking to increase its exposure to this market.

“Our managerial focus is around expanding into the specialty businesses, but we are happy with the 5 million-mt capacity that we will have toward the end of this year and into the future,” he said.

The focus of the potash division will continue to be on cost leadership as the group is “a price taker,” as it cannot influence the world prices environment, said the CFO.

“The way for us to optimize our [potash] business result is to optimize the average realized price of where we sell in the various markets,” he said.

ICL also highlighted the increase in scale of its polyhalite mine at Boulby, in northeast England.

But 2020 has been a difficult year to promote “a one-of-a-kind new product,” Altman told analysts. “With the pandemic we had to stop the technical support to customers and were unable to visit them. Despite this challenge, we sold 50 percent more in 2020 than we sold in 2019.”

Altman reiterated that ICL is targeting sales from Boulby of around 1.3 million mt “in just a few years,” and highlighted the group would continue to promote the FertilizerpluS product family on a global basis. FertilizerpluS products have additional ingredients added to the basic polysulfate product – the marketed form of ICL’s polyhalite – and various other offerings.

Polysulfate production at Boulby was up 12 percent year-over-year in 2020, reaching 709,000 mt, despite the negative impact of COVID-19 (GM Feb. 12, p. 17).

Reflecting on Anglo American’s Woodsmith polyhalite project under development just some 20 miles down the road from ICL’s Boulby mine, Altman told analysts that ICL is clearly monitoring progress there, and “understands Anglo’s interest in the product” as “the market for polysulfate is clearly growing.”

But the CFO said ICL believes it will still “take years” before Anglo is taking products from Woodsmith to the market.

He also believes the basic cost structure of the Woodsmith operation is going to be “very significant” because of the challenges that Anglo has with the locations and underground tunnels, as well as other factors.

“So, their overall cost basis is going to be much higher than what we have at Boulby, which will also create for us a significant competitive advantage,” said Altman.

Koch to Invest $150 M at Enid, Cites Urea, EEF Demand

Featured, News, News Briefs, Southern Plains, Specialty, Urea

Koch Fertilizer (KF), Wichita, said on March 10 it is investing approximately $150 million at its Enid, Okla., nitrogen facility to increase urea production and enhance the reliability of existing production units, as well as improve rail infrastructure and ammonia truck loading facilities.

The project will increase production of ammonia upgrade products. Once complete, KF Enid will be able to supply up to 1.8 million st/y of ammonia upgrade products. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2021, with startup occurring in 2022.

“We continue to see growing interest in upgraded products, like urea and enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEF),” said Scott McGinn, KF Executive Vice President. “By increasing our production capacity and flexibility, we can better serve our customers long-term with the products they prefer.”

The news is not a complete surprise, as the company said in late 2019 that it was in the engineering phase for a possible upgrade at Enid (GM Sept. 6, 2019). At that time, it was thought the increase would be just urea. The company put total ammonia upgrade capacity at 1.5 million st/y, which would indicate the just announced investment would add 300,000 st/y.

As part of the improvements, KF Enid will expand its onsite rail tracks and shipping capability, which will improve efficiencies for the company and its rail freight suppliers.

Additionally, it is upgrading its ammonia truck loading facilities, including relocating them within the facility. The company said the improvements not only will enhance loading reliability and safety, but also improve the customer experience with faster loading times and staging lanes during peak loading periods.

“We strive to create the best customer experience, and our loading system was falling short,” said Mike Kleis, KF Enid Vice President Operations and Plant Manager. “The new loading facility will create an overall better experience for truck drivers and allow them to load faster during peak seasons.”

This investment builds on the $1.3 billion Enid expansion and modernization improvements made from 2014-2017 (GM Oct. 20, 2017). The centerpiece of that expansion was a new 900,000 st/y urea plant. The company also added 90,000 st of urea storage, an electric power substation, and DEF production, and tripled its SuperU production capacity.

The Enid facility was constructed in 1974 and was purchased by Koch in 2003 as part of the Farmland Industries Inc. bankruptcy.

In addition to the new Enid upgrade, KF recently announced a $90 million investment in its Beatrice, Neb., plant (GM Nov. 13, 2020) which includes 75,000 st/y of additional UAN capacity, and a $140 million investment in its Fort Dodge, Iowa, plant (GM Nov. 20, 2020), which includes an 85,000 st/y increase in ammonia capacity.

Vancouver Sees Potash, Sulfur Volumes Increase In 2020

News, News Briefs, Potash, Sulfur

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority this week released the 2020 year-end statistics for goods moving through the Port of Vancouver. Overall, cargo through the port increased by 1 percent, to 145.5 million mt from 144.2 million mt over the prior year, the port authority said in a March 1 statement.

Potash exports increased by 11 percent from last year’s record, and increased by 8 percent. Potash export volumes rose to 10.38 million mt in 2020, up from 9.38 million mt, while sulfur volumes handled by the port reached 2.65 million mt, up from the prior year 2.47 million mt.

Phosphate-based fertilizer volumes increased 33 percent to 25,753 mt, up from 19,370 mt, while nitrogen fertilizer volumes fell by 13 percent year-over-year to 11,100 mt, down from 12,683 mt.

Gavilon Fertilizer – Management Brief

Management Briefs

Gavilon Fertilizer, Savannah, on March 9 announced that Brian Harlander, President, has decided to retire after more than 48 years in the ag industry. Since 1987, Harlander has worked for ConAgra Fertilizer, which later became Gavilon Fertilizer, serving in trading and managerial roles, helping build the company from a few locations across the U.S. to more than 80 locations around the world. In addition to serving as President of the fertilizer group since 2008, Harlander also served for six years on the Agricultural Retailers Association Board, and has been on The Fertilizer Institute Executive Board since 2005.

“I am honored to have had the chance to work with my fellow employees, customers, and suppliers, but I look forward to retirement and spending more time with my family, especially my grandchildren,” said Harlander. “We have built a strong team and a strong company, and I look forward to watching them continue to grow.”

After his retirement, Harlander will continue to serve Gavilon Fertilizer through a consulting and advisory role to ensure that the high level of customer service is continued for all customers and to assist the leadership team in their new roles. As decisions are finalized, a subsequent announcement will be made to introduce the new leadership team.

Mosaic, Sound Agriculture Partner on New Product

California, Featured, News, Specialty, Tampa

The Mosaic Co., Tampa, and Sound Agriculture, Emeryville, Calif., announced on March 9 that they have formed a strategic partnership to bring a revolutionary nutrient efficiency product to market to boost yields across major row crops and improve soil health. The companies will collaborate on the development and distribution of a proprietary mix of Sound’s bio-inspired chemistry and key micronutrients.

Sound’s technology activates the soil microbiome to give plants access to nutrients to optimize fertilizer inputs. The partners said early data indicates that the combination has the potential to be a best-in-class product within the broader nutrient efficiency space.

“Mosaic is committed to providing advances in soil health for our customers and products that have the potential to minimize fertilizer loss to the environment,” said Kim Nicholson, Mosaic’s Vice President-Ag Technology and Innovation. “Sound’s innovative technology will complement our product portfolio, providing growers with an in-season solution to enhance fertilizer efficiency and optimize production.”

“Partnering with Mosaic will help us quickly scale our technology by leveraging their significant technical expertise and market access,” said Adam Litle, CEO of Sound Agriculture. “We’re excited to find a partner who shares our passion for positively impacting agriculture practices, improving the bottom line for growers, and increasing soil health.”

The co-developed product is expected to launch in the U.S. by 2023, before rolling out to additional markets throughout the Americas, with a focus on Brazil, Argentina, and Canada. Sound will focus on manufacturing of the active ingredient and product formulation, while Mosaic will oversee field development, regulatory, sales, and marketing efforts. Initially, the product will be available for use on corn and soybeans, with the potential to expand to additional row crops such as wheat, cotton, rice, sugarcane, coffee, and others.

The partnership will complement Sound’s Source™ product line of foliar products for corn and soybeans by adding core micronutrients for growers looking for a more complete in-season fertility solution. The partners said that because the product leverages bio-inspired chemistry, it offers more stability and consistency than many other nutrient efficiency products. With an in-season application timing, Mosaic said this product collaboration enhances its own existing soil health portfolio, providing another tool for a comprehensive, well-balanced approach to plant nutrition.

U.K.’s Wynnstay Adds Armstrong Richardson Ag Division

News, News Briefs, United Kingdom

Wynnstay Group Plc, Powys, U.K., announced on March 4 that it has purchased the Agricultural Division of family-owned Armstrong Richardson Group, Stokesly, North Yorkshire, which has served northeast England since 1925. Wynnstay said the acquisition opens up a new trading area for the company in line with strategic growth plans.

The unit provides a board range of crop inputs, including seed, fertilizer, and feed, along with grain trading services. The deal also includes the Yorkshire Green grass seed brand. All managerial staff, except for the family director, will transfer to Wynnstay. Wynnstay said the acquisition opens up a new trading area for the company in line with strategic growth plans.

The acquisition comes on the heels of Wynnstay’s Glasson Fertiliser’s own acquisition of Helm Great Britain Ltd. (HGBF) (GM March 5, p. 31). HGBF is based at the inland Port of Howden on the River Ouse near Goole, and produces and wholesales blended fertilizer. Glasson, which already had four blending plants in the country, is Wynnstay’s fertilizer blending and trading unit.

“These are highly complementary acquisitions which expand our presence on the eastern side of the country, and add modern blended-fertilizer production facilities,” said Gareth Davies, Wynnstay CEO, referring to both acquisitions. “They bring new customers to the group and staff with significant experience and local knowledge. We are delighted to welcome them to Wynnstay, and look forward to working with them to develop the opportunities ahead.”