Saskatoon-The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, for the third consecutive year, has named Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. as the winner of its Overall Award for Excellence for Corporate Reporting. PotashCorp is the first company to receive this award three years straight. In addition, PotashCorp received the CICA Awards of Excellence for overall performance in the mining sector and in electronic disclosure, as well as honorable mentions in the categories of Corporate Governance Disclosure, Financial Reporting, and Sustainable Development Reporting.

Moscow-EuroChem Mineral and Chemical Company reported on Nov. 28 that it produced 4.5 million mt of mineral fertilizers from January through September, up 0.8 percent from the same period in 2005. The company’s consolidated output of nitrogen fertilizers was 2.9 million mt during that period, with the gross output of ammonia the same as last year at 1.9 million mt. The output of merchant-grade ammonium nitrate was 1.08 million mt, or 87 percent of last year’s tally for the period, while merchant-grade urea ouput was up slightly from last year at 971,000 mt. EuroChem’s UAN output from January through September was 779,000 mt, up 21 percent from last year, which the company attributed to an increase in rolling stock and higher market demand. EuroChem’s output of NP-fertilizer was 26,000 mt during the period, just 53.9 percent of last year’s total, while phosphate fertilizer output was up from last year at 1.258 million mt. The company’s DAP production during the nine-month period was 611,000 mt, an 11 percent increase over last year due to production increases at its Lithuanian enterprise and the launch of production at Belorechensk. In other news, EuroChem was recently rated 19^th in the annual ranking of 100 leading Russian enterprises, published by Business Week and AK&M rating agency. As it did a year ago, EuroChem holds the top spot in the rankings among Russian chemical producers.

Washington, D.C.-The Fertilizer Institute responded to Pres. Bush’s declaration of Nov. 30 as National Methamphetamine Awareness Day by recommitting itself to “working with local communities” and impressing upon the industry the need to check “facilities and tank cars for proper security measures.” In a Nov. 30 statement, TFI President Ford West said “As an industry, we have worked together to deter the theft of our products for the production of meth.” West referred to the two additives GloTell® and Calcium Nitrate, along with “other increased security measures” that the industry is using to deter the theft and misuse of fertilizer products. “The meth battle will not be won in isolation by a single commodity association or affected industry, but rather by a coordinated collaborative effort from all who are impacted by this epidemic,” West said.

Maumee, Ohio and Houston-The Andersons Inc. and Marathon Oil Corp. jointly announced plans to begin construction of an ethanol plant located in Greenville, Ohio. The Greenville site will be the first to be constructed by The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between The Andersons, Inc. and Marathon Petroleum Company LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation. The jv closed the purchase of property in September and received approval from the Greenville City Council for ordinances allowing zoning changes necessary for construction and extension of the enterprise zone that will support tax abatements for the project. The project recently received Ohio EPA approval for an air permit needed for plant operation. The facility, which will have the annual capacity to produce 110 million gallons of ethanol and 350,000 tons of distillers dried grain (DDG), an animal feed ingredient, could be operational as soon as the first quarter of 2008, employing a workforce of 40 employees.

Cleveland-The current $7.2 billion lawn and garden market should increase around 5 percent per year to reach $9.1 billion by 2010, according to a new study by The Freedonia Group. Best opportunities are anticipated for new products that offer convenience and good performance while also meeting health and safety standards. Growth will be led by fertilizers, growing media, and mulch, all of which will continue to post annual gains of over six percent. Sales of organics will grow nearly twice as fast as conventional products, but will remain a small percentage of the entire market. Sales will be sluggish for pesticides, which make up almost 30 percent of the market. Increasing concern over the environmental and health effects of agrichemicals will dampen pesticides’ prospects. Attempts to control lawn maintenance costs, especially within the professional market, will further depress gains. The residential market will account for over three-quarters of total demand in 2010 and post above-average growth, driven by solid gains in both the “do-it-yourself” and “do-it-for-me” segments. Home gardening activity, including lawn care, has been steadily increasing over the past decade as the baby boom generation has entered the 55-64 year-old age segment – the demographic that is most likely to be or become gardeners.

Albany, N.Y.-Gov. George Pataki recently announced $58.7 million in environmental protection grants for communities and organizations, with the biggest chunk – $21.5 million – going for farmland protection. Officials said the grants would help farm owners resist the temptation of higher prices from developers or selling development rights.

Oklahoma City-The state attorney general’s suit against 16 poultry companies for phosphorus pollution of a critical watershed will proceed without the 160 third-party defendants, which included three cities and numerous farmers, ranchers, golf courses. But that doesn’t mean they’re off the hook, according to the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Last August Federal Magistrate Sam Joyner ruled that the third parties named by the poultry companies be severed from the state’s case, but didn’t prevent the companies from going after these defendants after the first suit is decided. What the ruling did, reported Ericka McPherson, the bureau’s director of national affairs, is to turn one massive lawsuit into two, with the companies, after their liability is established, able to sue the third parties for what they contributed to the runoff. It’s been the producers’ strategy all along, McPherson noted, calling it a “brilliant move on their part because it doesn’t look good for the attorney general to sue all these individuals.” She said one highly reliable study indicated only 15 percent of the phosphorus runoff was from poultry litter, while 35 percent is from other sources, such as municipal treatment plants.