Marysville, Ohio-The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. recorded a 35 percent increase in net income and a 14 percent uptick in sales for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2006. Net income was $135.9 million on sales of $2.7 billion, versus the year-ago $100.6 million and $2.37 billion. Scotts said it is extremely pleased with the strength of its core business and the growth of Scotts LawnService. It expects 2007 net income to grow 10-12 percent. Fourth-quarter net income was in the loss column due to a $60 million non-cash impairment charge, primarily related to trade names and goodwill in the international consumer business. With the charges, the net loss was $39.4 million on sales of $492.1 million, versus the year-ago loss of $8.4 million and sales of $408.2 million. Excluding the impairment and other charges, adjusted net income for the quarter was $1.6 million, compared to a year-ago adjusted net loss of $700,000.

Springfield, Ill.-Iowa’s anti-meth additive may qualify in Illinois for a share of the $1.6 million in anhydrous ammonia security grants announced recently by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to state agriculture officials. While using calcium nitrate to thwart thieves looking for ingredients to make methamphetamine isn’t on the grant list, farmers and dealers are able to include it on their applications, which would be considered by the Illinois Agriculture Dept. Spokeswoman Chris Herbert indicated the intent of the grants was to upgrade anhydrous ammonia security with the likes of surveillance cameras, lighting, locking systems, and other such measures, but additives aren’t specifically excluded. “Actually, we were leaving it up to the farmers and input facilities to decide the approach they are taking. If they want to use one of the additives, they can put in on the application and it will be considered,” she added. Iowa officials gave the go-ahead to using calcium nitrate last month on a voluntary basis, and Illinois users probably would be in the same situation of having to locate their own supplier. Calcium nitrate isn’t expected to show up in nurse tanks in Iowa at least until after the fall application season is over. Herbert said Illinois will be announcing the first round of ammonia security grants in the next couple of weeks. She wasn’t able to say what the applicants are proposing, but nearly 40 are reported to have been received from the 21 west-central counties eligible because of the concentration of the ammonia thefts. Herbert said it’s only a pilot program so far, but could be expanded to every county. Meanwhile, agriculture interests are giving Iowa’s additive a cautious going-over. “The additive doesn’t have us as excited as it would have maybe five years ago when we had a huge problem,” Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Pres. Jean Payne told a Herald & Review reporter. “There’s still ammonia theft going on out there, but it seems to be dissipating.” Payne, who will be in Iowa later this month to learn more about the additive, noted that new state laws aimed at thwarting meth-makers by restricting the sale of over-the-counter cold medicines have reduced the number of anhydrous ammonia thefts.

Arden Hills, Minn.-Land O’Lakes Inc. on Oct. 26 reported a third-quarter net loss of $16.7 million on sales of $1.6 billion, compared with earnings of $80.4 million on sales of $1.7 billion in the comparable 2005 quarter. Although the company noted improved earnings in its Dairy Foods and Feed segments, the 2006 third-quarter results included a $15 million non-cash impairment charge against the company’s holdings in MoArk LLC. The 2005 results also included an $87.5 million third-quarter pretax gain on the sale of the company’s interest in CF Industries Inc. Year-to-date sales were $5.3 billion with net earnings of $44.2 million, compared with $5.6 billion and $130.6 million, respectively, in the first nine months of 2005, with the year-ago period again benefiting from the $87.5 million pretax gain on the CF sale. Land O’Lakes reported $28.1 million in pretax earnings in Agronomy through September, generated primarily through its 50-percent ownership in the Agriliance joint venture (although Agriliance sales are not included in Land O’Lakes financial reporting). In 2005, Agronomy earnings through September totaled $115.5 million, which included the gain on the CF sale. Factoring out that gain, reported pretax earnings are essentially flat year over year, the company said. Company officials noted that despite the stable earnings, business performance in Agronomy was down somewhat due to reduced volumes in crop nutrients and crop protection products. Both volumes and margins in crop nutrients were depressed by a late planting season and uncertainty early in the year regarding nitrogen prices. These factors were offset by reduced interest assigned to the segment, which benefited from the cash generated from the 2005 sale of CF. For the quarter, Agronomy reported a $4 million pretax loss, compared to $81 million in pretax earnings for the third quarter of 2005. Factoring out the CF gain, Agronomy would have shown a $6.6 million pretax loss for the 2005 third quarter, the company said. Land O’Lakes’ Seed segment reported $607 million in sales and $39.4 million in pretax earnings through September, as compared to $533 million and $31.0 million, respectively, in 2005. For the 2006 third quarter, Seed reported sales of $55 million and a $7.7 million pretax loss, compared to sales of $43 million and $0.4 million in pretax earnings in the third quarter of 2005. Seed volumes through September were up 5 percent in corn, 6 percent in soybeans, and 21 percent in alfalfa. Land O’Lakes said the alfalfa sales growth could be traced in great part to the success of Roundup Ready® alfalfa, developed in collaboration with Monsanto.

Minneapolis-Agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. is joining with an innovator in renewable biofuels to help farmers and others turn their wastes into energy and fertilizer while contributing to improving the environment. Cargill’s emission reductions services will be working with a subsidiary of Environmental Power Corp. (EPC) of Portsmouth, N.H., to identify opportunities for agriculture and others in the food supply chain to utilize anaerobic digestion technology and transform their waste products into a renewable natural gas and a liquid byproduct that could be processed into fertilizer, according to officials with both companies. At the same time, they report, participants could earn greenhouse production offset credits that can be used on international exchanges. Currently, digesters are in use in agriculture, particularly with dairy farms that have to deal with a large amount of animal waste. California, a large dairy producing state, offers grants to help offset costs, which can run a million dollars or more. “We are impressed with the technology for extracting biogas from the agri-food waste stream,” said Eugenio Meschini, managing director of the Cargill emission reductions branch. “Beyond producing clean, reliable energy, this technology may help our customers and business partners manage their waste and improve their bottom lines.” As part of the deal, Cargill will receive warrants for purchasing EPC stock. Mike Casper, regional manager for the EPC subsidiary Microgy Inc., told Green Markets the effluent ?Çô which is typically 3 to 5 percent solids ?Çô can be treated further to remove additional solids and separate the NPK elements found in commercial fertilizer. “Basically, what goes in the digester comes out of the digester, except for approximately 5 percent of the overall volume that is broken down to produce the approximately 65 percent methane biogas. The substrate or food waste material makes up approximately 10 percent of the overall volume.”

Santa Fe-Helena Chemical Co. is being fined $36,000 by the New Mexico Environment Department for failing to notify the department when fertilizer spilled from a company-owned tank on a county road in Mesquite on Sept. 29. “Helena Chemical disregarded known notification requirements by not reporting the spill,” said NMED Secretary Ron Curry. “The company should have been more responsible in reporting this considering they are operating under an NMED-approved abatement plan for similar fertilizer spills that resulted in groundwater contamination.” According to press reports and an NMED press release, a farmer who bought 500 gallons of liquid fertilizer from the company that day was carrying a company-owned tank containing the fertilizer in his truck. He was outside the plant boundaries when the tank shifted and ruptured when he stopped at a stop sign. The fertilizer was described as UCAN C-17, consisting of 12 percent urea, 37.9 percent hydrated ammonium calcium nitrate double salt, 16 percent ammonium nitrate, and 33.5 percent water. Helena officials could not be contacted, either at the plant or the company headquarters in Collierville, Tenn. The local press said Helena was not aware of the incident until several days later. Crews removed contaminated soil at the site and replaced it with clean fill, and monitoring was supposed to continue. The official account stated that residents notified NMED of the spill and that the company also called in on Oct. 11. The NMED compliance order states the company must determine why the tank ruptured and report that information within 30 days, and must also explain precautions it will take in the future to prevent such a spill from occurring from that tank and other tanks it owns. Helena was in a drawn-out disagreement last year with NMED over whether it was required to obtain a state air quality permit. That resulted in June 2005 in a fine of $233,777 and an order to reduce operating hours. NMED spokeswoman Marissa Stone said the fine was settled that October for $202,500.

Toronto-PhosCan Chemical Corp. and Baltic Resources Inc. jointly announced that they have engaged Jacobs Engineering and Golder Associates to conduct the pre-feasibility study for the Martison Phosphate project. The pre-feasibility is divided into two phases and has a total budgeted cost of US$ 2.2 million, not including owner’s costs. Phase One is to consist of resource estimates and pit planning, the preparation of a phosphate concentrate, phosphoric acid tests utilizing the hemi-hydrate process, and tests producing the two primary finished products contemplated for the market place. In conjunction, preliminary testing will take place on the quality of the gypsum produced from the phosphoric acid tests. Phase Two is comprised of engineering studies, including the updating of all capital and operating costs, infrastructure costs, product mix, logistics, and desired markets associated with the designing of a vertically integrated phosphoric acid facility. PhosCan, as the operator for the jv, has appointed Garry Pigg as project manager. Pigg has over 20 years of experience as a senior manager involved in phosphate and potash mining, fertilizer raw materials, and fertilizer manufacturing. The Martison project, located near Hearst, Ont., entails the development of a vertically integrated phosphoric acid plant utilizing the Martison phosphate deposit and sulfuric acid from the Ontario base-metal smelters.

Toronto-Citing higher Metals earnings, Sherritt International Corporation reported record earnings of C$74.1 million ($0.49 per share) on consolidated revenues of $285.5 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 20, 2006, compared with $26.1 million ($0.17 per share) and $257.3 million, respectively, in the comparable year-ago quarter. Third-quarter EBITDA was $148.3 million, an increase of $23.5 million over the second quarter, and up $48.2 million from the 2005 third quarter. Nine-month earnings for the company were $167 million ($1.10 per share) on revenues of $853.4 million, compared with $115.2 million ($0.77 per share) and $836.9 million, respectively, during the comparable year-ago period. Sherritt’s soybean-based food processing business generated revenue of $14.3 million and EBITDA of $1.5 million in the third quarter, down from year-ago third-quarter revenue of $20.9 million and EBITDA of $1.5 million. The revenue drop was attributed to lower realized prices and volumes, offset by lower procurement and operating costs. Sherritt reported fertilizer revenues of $3.1 million for the quarter and $35.8 million year-to-date, compared with $6.8 million and $45 million, respectively, in 2005. Fertilizer sales volumes were 7,614 mt for the quarter and 107,830 mt year-to-date, compared with 21,039 mt and 143,222 mt, respectively, in 2005. Sherritt said third-quarter granular ammonium sulfate sales were down from last year due to weather, while year-to-date sales were impacted by lower granular ammonium sulfate demand in the spring and lower crystalline ammonium sulfate sales in the first quarter.

Greeley, Colo.-UAP Holding Corp. announced on Nov. 2 that Apollo Management and certain members of UAP’s management have agreed to sell 9,322,857 shares of the company’s common shares in a transaction underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co. The total was increased from 4,700,000 common shares, which was announced the previous day. The new total represents an aggregate of approximately 18.3 percent of the current shares outstanding. The shares will be offered on an at-the-market basis pursuant to UAP’s existing effective registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will not receive any proceeds from this sale of its common shares. Copies of the final prospectus supplement, when available, may be obtained from the offices of Goldman, Sachs & Co., Attn: Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004, Fax: (212) 902-9316, or email at prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com.