Koch Fertilizer’s parent company submitted a filing with the U.K.’s Office of Fair Trading on Jan. 7 indicating Koch Fertilizer’s plan to acquire 100 percent of the shares of J&H Bunn Ltd. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter, pending necessary approvals.

“J&H Bunn is a significant independent fertiliser distributor in the U.K. market,” said Steve Packebush, president of Koch Fertilizer, which is based in the United States. “By adding this business, Koch Fertilizer can integrate J&H Bunn’s terminals, distribution and blending capabilities into our growing market coverage.”

“J&H Bunn shareholders believe this sale to Koch Fertilizer provides a strategic fit and will secure and enhance the reputation our company has developed since the 19th century,” said Michael Fuller, chairman of J&H Bunn. “In the past several years, our business relationship with Koch has highlighted our similar company cultures and shared commitment to customers. I am confident that this business will be stewarded well in the future.”

J&H Bunn was founded in 1816 in Great Yarmouth. It employs about 150 people in its fertilizer businesses which comprise 12 sites throughout Great Britain. Approximately 95 percent of the U.K.’s arable area lies within 100 miles of J&H Bunn’s port-related facilities.

“Koch Fertilizer values our agronomic and blending capabilities,” said David Harrod, co-managing director for J&H Bunn. “The combination of our fertilizer expertise and Koch Fertilizer’s global sourcing and marketing capabilities means J&H Bunn customers should see welcome benefits going forward. Koch Fertilizer also plans to retain the Bunn-related brand names and move forward with the Bunn management and operational teams to ensure customer continuity.”

J&H Bunn’s major fertilizer terminals are in Great Yarmouth on the east coast and Middlesbrough (Teesside) in northern England, with Sharpness on the west coast. Bunn also has six other coastal and inland terminals at Falmouth, Howden, Montrose, Fakenham, Norwich, and Wakefield.

Gavilon LLC said Jan. 3 that it had completed the acquisition of the DeBruce Companies (GM Oct. 25, 2010), expanding the company’s agricultural assets in the U.S. and Mexico.

Paul DeBruce will continue serving as CEO of the DeBruce Companies, Kansas City, Mo., a wholly owned subsidiary of Gavilon, and will join Gavilon’s board of directors. Larry Kittoe will also continue serving as chief operating officer of DeBruce. Upon the closing, DeBruce and Kittoe were also appointed executive vice presidents of Gavilon.

Gavilon said the addition of the DeBruce grain, ingredient, and fertilizer facilities and distribution network will complement Gavilon’s North American footprint and position the company to meet the rapidly growing demand for agricultural resources worldwide.

DeBruce Fertilizer and DeBruce Ag Service provide fertilizer and crop protection products and services. According to its Web site, DeBruce has fertilizer terminals at Creston (24,000 st) and Shenandoah, Iowa; Albany, LaSalle, and Rock Island, Ill.; Wichita, Kan.; Nebraska City, Neb. (40,000 st); Catoosa, Okla. (40,000 st); Amarillo and Tulia, Texas; and Minneapolis, Minn. Retail centers are listed at Benton, Creston, and Shenandoah, Iowa; New Carlisle, Ind.; Nebraska City, Neb.; and Hale Center, Lockney, and Farwell, Texas.

DeBruce also trades feed ingredients, operates a bean crushing plant, and offers freight brokerage services through DeBruce Feed Ingredients Inc., Creston Bean Processing LLC, and DeBruce Transportation, respectively. DeBruce is the fourth-largest privately held company in Kansas City, and employs more than 550 employees nationwide.

Recognized as one of the premier cross-country truck trading companies in the U.S., DeBruce Grain operates 23 high-speed grain-handling facilities located throughout the Midwest.

The transaction increases Gavilon’s licensed grain storage capacity to more than 300 million bushels, making it the third-largest grain storage network in North America.

Gavilon LLC, a unit of The Gavilon Group LLC, Omaha, Neb., is a leading commodity management firm, connecting producers and consumers of feed, food, and fuel through its global supply chain network. Its history dates to 1874, when Peavey Co. built its first grain facility. In 1982 Peavey was acquired by ConAgra Foods, Inc., and later became part of ConAgra Trade Group. In 2008, a group of investors formed Gavilon and acquired the Trade Group, enabling the newly formed, privately held company to focus on growing its commodity business. Today, Gavilon leverages its strategic partnerships and more than 300 facilities and offices worldwide to link agriculture, fertilizer, and energy supply with increasing global demand. The company provides origination, storage and handling, transportation and logistics, marketing and distribution, and risk management services to tens of thousands of customers each year, and employs more than 1,700 people around the world.

University of Florida (UF) Professor George Houhmuth says he is “sick and tired” of attacks on a paper he wrote questioning the unintended consequences of summer fertilizer bans adopted by various cities and counties in Florida. Environmentalists and some elected leaders have accused Houhmuth of bias for taking money from the turf industry, saying that the paper was intended to help pass a state law overriding local fertilizer bans.

Houhmuth, however, said the paper he wrote was not financed by anyone including the turf industry. UF’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Studies (IFAS) published the paper about a year ago, and the uproar has continued unabated. The paper was recently removed from the IFAS Web site.

“I just wanted to see if science was being used in the decision making process,” particularly in regard to turf, said Houhmuth. In the paper he questioned whether banning the use of fertilizers with nitrogen and phosphate in the summer might lead some people to over-fertilize in the spring in hopes of preserving their lawns through the summer, which could aggravate the problem of water pollution and lead to increased growth of algae.

Fertilizer runoff has been a suspect in the increase in red tide, which has been responsible for fish kills along the Gulf Coast of the state. When the red tide algae dies, it depletes oxygen in the water and can increase breathing problems in some people.

Houhmuth said the paper was not a research study, but was based on a compilation of previous scientific research. Turf, he said, grows primarily in the summer, and fertilizing at other times of year could be counterproductive, because turf cannot absorb the nutrients until the roots are better developed. However, he said he had no way of knowing whether people actually would fertilize more in the spring if bans were in place. That information would have to come from social scientists, but no such study has been conducted.

Houhmuth said the attacks on the paper he wrote had become ludicrous. He said he made no criticism of any particular fertilizer ban, “I just wanted to offer some things they may want to consider, when considering bans.”

Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC), LaVergne, Tenn., reported a net margin of $10.6 million on sales of $567 million for the fiscal year ending July 30, 2010, a huge turnaround from the near break-even margin of $147,000 on sales of $562 million posted for the prior year. Inventory write-downs and devaluation in fertilizer, feed ingredients, and glyphosate contributed to the year-ago downturn. TFC said that in 2010, all departments were profitable.

Total patronage paid to members in 2010 was $10.25 million, 30 percent of which was cash. The payment, combined with member programs, and retired reserves totaled $6.5 million, compared to the ten-year average of $7.5 million. TFC did not pay patronage for the 2009 year.

TFC continued to grow in 2010, with new business across the border into other states. New associate members include Limestone Farmers Cooperative, Athens, Ala., which now operates the former Giles Farmers Cooperative in Pulaski, Tenn.; Arkansas Valley Farmers Association, Russellville, Ark.; and Augusta Cooperative Farm Bureau Inc., Staunton, Va.

In addition, TFC subsidiary ADI Agronomy added five new locations in 2009, and now operates 11 full-service retail agronomy centers in highly concentrated row-crop areas of Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky.

TFC expects a new Stockdale’s retail store to open in Bowling Green, Kentucky, this spring. The two existing Stockdale stores are in Hixson and Covington, Tenn. TFC said these two recorded a 5.21 percent sales increase in 2010 over 2009 while recording a positive net margin. Stockdale’s is TFC’s foothold in the farm and home store market, focused on consumer products and the growing “hobby” farm market. It expects to locate these stores in areas without a co-op presence or where a co-op wants to join forces with TFC in the business.

TFC said it has also added a new 3,000 st liquid fertilizer storage tank and loading facility at LaVergne to better serve its middle Tennessee members.

TFC has also announced that it has inked a new crop protection supply agreement with Winfield Solutions, a unit of Land O’Lakes Inc. Winfield is the parent company of Croplan Genetics seed brand, which TFC has been selling for the past two years.

TFC said the new deal will give members access to a larger selection of products and makes TFC more of a source to be reckoned with in this highly competitive market.

Under the deal finalized in December, TFI will source the majority of its crop protection products through Winfield. The deal will change TFC’s relationship with traditional crop protection supplier Universal Crop Protection Alliance (UCPA), where it has been obtaining most of these products. However, TFC says while it will remain an active UCPA member and continue to support it regarding animal health, twine, and the Heritage Trading Co., UCPA will no longer be the primary source for crop protection products.