Wilbur-Ellis Company on March 21 announced that it has acquired the assets of Chester Farm Service Corporation, a full service dealer located in Chester, SD. Wilbur-Ellis said the acquisition aligns with its growth objectives and fits strategically with its existing business in South Dakota.

Chester Farm Service was founded in 1970 and provides feed, fertilizer, crop protection products, and custom application services to growers in eastern South Dakota. The business was purchased by Thomas Reiff and Michael Roberts in 1983, and has developed a reputation for seed expertise and strict environmental, health, and safety standards. It has 12 full-time employees at its single location in Chester, as well as additional seasonal employees.

Wilbur-Ellis said the Chester location will allow it to expand sales in fertilizer, plant protection, and other Wilbur-Ellis branded products to the area, and will be supported by Wilbur-Ellis’ aerial application business in Huron, SD, which the company purchased in 2007 (Green Markets March 26, 2007).

“Chester Farm Service has a very similar relationship approach to its business as Wilbur-Ellis,” said Troy Johnson, vice president of Wilbur-Ellis’ Midwest Operations. “The team at Chester Farm Service is innovative, extremely customer-oriented, and has the integrity that we look for when acquiring a business.”

Chester’s fertilizer business includes ammonia, liquid, and dry fertilizers, which it supplies to local farmers from a 3,000 ton dry storage facility and a 2,600 ton liquid plant. The company also offers crop protection products, seed products from Asgrow® and Dekalb®, and a full line of feed products for livestock operations. The company has also added loaders and trucks for dirt and gravel loading, in addition to equipment rental services.

“Wilbur-Ellis has experienced people, resources and technology that will help take this business to the next level of service when working with our growers,” said Roberts, who will continue to manage the Chester location. “We all look forward to joining the Wilbur-Ellis team.”

The Mosaic Co. today announced that it has entered into a Heads of Agreement with Ma’aden and the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) under which the companies intend to enter a joint venture to develop integrated phosphate production facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The parties contemplate that Ma’aden, Mosaic and Sabic would own 60, 25 and 15 percent of the joint venture, respectively.

The approximately $7 billion greenfield project, to be known as Wa’ad Al Shammal Phosphate Project, would be built in the northern region of Saudi Arabia at Wa’ad Al Shammal Minerals Industrial City, and would include further expansion of processing plants in Ras Al Khair Minerals Industrial City which is located on the east coast of Saudi Arabia. The JV would develop a mine and chemical complexes that would produce phosphate fertilizers, animal feed, food grade purified phosphoric acid and sodium tripolyphosphate for sale to customers worldwide. The facilities are expected to have a production capacity of approximately 3.5 million mt of finished product per year. Operations are expected to commence in late 2016.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mosaic would contribute expertise to the design, construction and operations of the new facilities and acquire a 25 percent ownership stake. In connection with its equity share, Mosaic would market approximately 25 percent of the production of the JV. Subject to final financing terms, Mosaic’s cash investment would be up to $1 billion, funded over a four-year period beginning in 2013.

"Our joint venture with Ma’aden holds great promise for Mosaic, and we expect it to be an excellent complement to our phosphate business in Florida and Louisiana," said Mosaic President and CEO Jim Prokopanko. "This cost-effective phosphate project would enable Mosaic to further diversify our sources of phosphates and gives us improved access to key agricultural countries. Our growing global reach further enables us to fulfill Mosaic’s mission, to help the world grow the food it needs, while delivering compelling shareholder value."

Facts about the project:

• Phosphate production at the Ma’aden project would benefit from the availability of key raw materials which are available locally from sources within Saudi Arabia.
• The project would provide logistical benefits to Mosaic, enabling it to ship phosphates to important phosphate geographies.
• The parties expect to enter into a definitive shareholders agreement during the first half of 2013.

The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) on March 19 announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) have reached an agreement that will allow FDEP to implement numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for Florida’s water.

TFI applauded the agreement, saying that allowing the state to set its own water quality standards is a win for Florida’s environment and business community. “This agreement represents a tremendous victory for the fertilizer industry as it will allow EPA to withdraw the federal NNC for Florida, which could have cost the state’s agricultural community more than $1 billion annually,” TFI said.

TFI said the agreement is precedent setting in that it confirms that states, not the federal government, are best equipped to protect their own waters. It also leaves in place an earlier U.S. District Court decision to vacate EPA’s streams standard and the downstream protective value, which TFI said are tools that could be used to set NNC elsewhere. TFI noted that environmental groups are pushing EPA to utilize similar means to address nutrients in the Mississippi River Basin.

“Nutrients occur naturally and in balanced concentrations contribute to healthy ecosystems,” said TFI Vice President of Scientific Programs Bill Herz. “We are extremely pleased with this agreement and the overall efforts of a unified industry and agriculture community. We have long argued that nutrients cannot be treated like traditional pollutants and have consistently held that strict federal NNC are not the best way to regulate them in waterways.”
The agreement is contingent on Florida’s Legislature acting to direct FDEP to move forward.

Dead Sea Works’ workers began imposing sanctions this morning and shut down the Sdom plant to protest against the proposed PotashCorp deal to acquire Israel Chemicals Ltd. All production was halted. The ICL unions have called an emergency meeting for March 19 to determine their course of action. Today’s action comes just hours before Israel’s new government is due to be sworn in.

Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings LLC has acquired the assets of 3-D Chemicals LLC, 3-D Chemicals Inc., 3-D Fertilizer LLC, and 3-D Fertilizer Inc. Headquartered in St. Martinville, LA, 3-D currently operates two locations in St. Martinville and New Iberia, LA, with associated warehouses, primarily servicing the sugarcane growing area in Louisiana, west of the Atchafalaya Basin.

“I am excited to become part of an organization whose principles mirror those of 3-D and its staff,” said David Degeyter, who founded 3-D in 1976. “With the experience, network, and resources of both Pinnacle and Jimmy Sanders, we intend to substantially enhance our product and service offerings and continue working tirelessly for our valued customers.”

Kenny Cordell, CEO of Pinnacle, said the purchase of 3-D adds to Pinnacle’s growing portfolio. In September 2012, Pinnacle formed a strategic partnership with Jimmy Sanders Inc. (Green Markets Sept. 17, 2013), one of the largest family-owned agricultural input supply and distribution businesses in the Mid-South region, to pursue the development of a national agricultural input distribution network.

“David Degeyter is a highly respected veteran in the sugar cane industry,” said Cordell. “Together with his team of highly skilled employees, they have built a fine operation and a marquee brand. With the acquisition of 3-D, Pinnacle gains further access into the important and valuable South Louisiana sugarcane market. Together with G&H Seed Company, 3-D will operate as a significant member of the Jimmy Sanders team, providing high quality inputs and full-service capabilities to Southern growers.”

Pinnacle was formed in early 2012 by Apollo Global Management LLC, the investment firm that purchased United Agri Products North America in 2003 from ConAgra Foods Inc. (Green Markets Nov. 3, 2003), and then formed UAP Holding Corp, which it sold to Agrium Inc. in 2007 (Green Markets Dec. 10, 2007). Apollo also formed Compass Minerals Corp., the salt and specialty potash company based in Overland Park, Kan., in 2001 through the purchase of IMC Global’s salt assets. Apollo sold its Compass shares in 2004 (Green Markets Nov. 29, 2004).

Israel Chemicals Ltd. has reported a drop in fourth quarter of 2012 net profits and revenues. The fertilizer and industrial chemical maker said fourth quarter net profit fell to $210 million versus $370 million in the corresponding quarter in 2011. Revenues fell to $1.338 billion from $1.712 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Full year results also showed a drop in both net profit and revenue at ICL. Net profit for 2012 totaled $1.3 billion versus $1.5 billion in 2011. Revenues fell to $6.670 billion from $7.068 billion the year earlier.

The company attributed the decline to lower potash sales to India and China in the fourth quarter of 2012. ICL said first quarter 2013 has witnessed a pick-up in potash sales to both India and China following the signing of agreements with customers in both countries.

Honeywell said today that a small anhydrous ammonia leak at its Hopewell, Va., plant late Monday afternoon did not impact ammonia or ammonium sulfate production. At around 4:30 p.m. a leak was detected by the plant’s safety systems in an area undergoing maintenance. Honeywell said the leak was contained to a small area of the facility and there were no indications of offsite impact and no injuries. The plant implemented established safety procedures and notified local emergency responders. The company told Green Markets that the source of the leak appears to be a gasket, but the company is working to determine the cause of the leak and the amount released. The company emphasized that it was a minor leak in an area that was not in production as it was under maintenance.

Indian farmers will need about 15.3 million mt of urea, 6.5 million mt of DAP, and 2 million mt of MOP for the Karif season, running roughly May through October. NPK demand was pegged at 5.5 million mt and SSPs at 2.5 million mt. The Karif season accounts for a little more than half of the total fertilizer needs.

The estimate was presented by the joint secretary of crops at the agriculture ministry during a conference for state government agriculture officials earlier this week. The government also reiterated its desire to become urea self-sufficient in the next five years.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a new policy that would encourage new investments in domestic urea production. An independent rating agency, ICRA, said the policy could result in five to six plants either being refurbished or built from scratch by 2019. If the plants come online, the ICRA said an additional 8-10 million mt would be added to domestic production.

So far this year urea sales totaled 27.8 million mt with imports accounting for just less than 7 million mt.