A record high 84.8 million acres of soybeans were planted in the U.S. in 2014, according to USDA’s June 30 acreage report. The soybean acreage total was up 11 percent from last year, with record high planted acreage reported in Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Planted corn acreage was reported at 91.6 million acres, down 4 percent from last year and the lowest planted acreage in the U.S. since 2010. The planted acreage total was also down slightly from USDA’s March 31 Prospective Plantings estimate of 91.7 million acres, but still represents the fifth largest corn acreage in the U.S. since 1944.

All wheat planted area for 2014 is estimated at 56.5 million acres, up less than 1 percent from 2013. The 2014 winter wheat planted area, at 42.3 million acres, is down 2 percent from last year.

All cotton planted area for 2014 is estimated at 11.4 million acres, 9 percent above last year. Upland cotton acreage was reported at 11.2 million acres, up 10 percent from last year.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) surveyed approximately 11,000 segments of land and 71,000 producers during the first two weeks of June to gather information for the report.

Verdesian Life Sciences, Cary, N.C. said July 1 that it has acquired Specialty Fertilizer Products (SFP), a Leawood, Kansas-based company focused on fertilizer efficiency products. The transaction promises to benefit customers by building on Verdesian’s history of bringing new, intellectually protected and patented products to market.

By joining forces with SFP, Verdesian said it will gain more than 270 patent properties and be able to offer: a broader portfolio for customers; more solutions to meet growers’ needs; a greater focus on key customers with the largest plant nutritional sales force in the United States; and robust pipeline in plant nutrition.

“SFP’s innovative fertilizer solutions are a natural fit with Verdesian’s expansive product offerings that increase grower yields and return on investment,” said J.J. Grow, Verdesian CEO. “Bringing SFP into the Verdesian family represents another step in our long-term strategy to build a leading portfolio of plant health and nutrition products.”

Verdesian will further enhance its position in the crop markets with the addition of Avail^® Phosphorus Fertilizer Enhancer, NutriSphere-N^® Nitrogen Fertilizer Manager and More Than Manure^® Nutrient Manager. These products complement the current portfolio that includes Nutri-Phite^® and Nutri-Phite^® Plus, Sterics^®, Take Off^®, PolyAmines™, and the INTX^® line of inoculants and seed treatments.

“We are confident that the addition of SFP’s outstanding team, impressive product lineup and excellent reputation for service will be a great combination with Verdesian Life Sciences,” Grow added. “This move strengthens our ability to bring a new level of plant health technology to customers as the demand and expectations for these valuable products continue to grow. We also remain committed to the research and development of products that are environmentally sustainable.”

"We are excited to join Verdesian, which will enable us to take our business to the next level,” said SFP founder J. Larry Sanders, who has served as president and CEO. “As part of Verdesian, we will be able to offer our revolutionary and environmentally beneficial fertilizer efficiency technology to more growers in more markets, and to bring the exciting products we have in our pipeline to market. Verdesian shares our commitment to helping growers optimize their resources, and we look forward to working with J.J. Grow and the team to continue providing our customers the latest solutions in fertilizer efficiency technology that they expect from us.”

According to Grow, there will be no immediate staffing changes except in the reporting structure at the senior management level. For example, Sanders has been named executive vice president of Polymer Technology and will report to Verdesian’s J.J. Grow. The sales forces of both organizations will continue to service their clients through 2014. In early 2015, SFP will become Verdesian and a combined sales force will be formed.

Financial terms of the deal will not be disclosed. The current U.S. and international pricing, product distribution, programs and policies for all products offered by Verdesian, including the acquired SFP products, will remain in place through 2014.

Verdesian is a plant health and nutrition company with patented biological, nutritional, seed treatment and inoculant technologies that help specialty and row crop growers and turf management professionals maximize their nitrogen and phosphorus investments. Founded in 2012 to acquire and grow plant health product companies, Verdesian has production and manufacturing facilities in Visalia, Calif., Pasco, Wash., and Kentland, Ind.

CF Industries Holdings Inc.’s Woodward, Okla., plant was still idled from an April shutdown when a small fire erupted at the facility June 20.

CF had reported April 21 that the entire complex was shut down due to a problem in one of the boilers. At the time, CF estimated the plants would be down 6-8 weeks. During the outage, the plant has been executing the turnaround maintenance activities that had previously been scheduled for June. The Woodward complex has average annual production capacity for 480,000 tons of gross ammonia, 820,000 tons of UAN, and 25,000 tons of urea liquor.

“CF Industries is conducting an internal investigation into the cause of a minor fire which occurred last Friday morning at its Woodward, Oklahoma, nitrogen complex,” the company told Green Markets. “Although emergency services were called as a precautionary measure, the fire was quickly extinguished by plant personnel and there were no injuries or impact to employees or the local community. It is too soon to know the impact, if any, this incident may have on the process of bringing the plant back on-stream. We will restart the plant when we believe it is safe and prudent to do so and remain in contact with our customers about the resumption of production and deliveries from the facility.”

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said today it has begun the recall process at its Lanigan facility to reinstate 47 permanent employees. The company said the recall reflects ongoing tightness in the granular potash market.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. has confirmed that a small fire June 20 has idled its Woodward, Okla., nitrogen plant. “CF Industries is conducting an internal investigation into the cause of a minor fire which occurred last Friday morning at its Woodward, Oklahoma, nitrogen complex,” the company told Green Markets. “Although emergency services were called as a precautionary measure, the fire was quickly extinguished by plant personnel and there were no injuries or impact to employees or the local community. It is too soon to know the impact, if any, this incident may have on the process of bringing the plant back on-stream. We will restart the plant when we believe it is safe and prudent to do so and remain in contact with our customers about the resumption of production and deliveries from the facility.”