CHS Inc. reported net income of $242.2 million for the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year. Earnings for the period Sept. 1 – Nov. 30, 2013, declined 30 percent from $343.7 million recorded in the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The decrease was largely attributed to reduced refining margins in the company’s energy business. Revenues for the quarter were $11.0 billion, down slightly from $11.7 billion for the same period in fiscal 2013, primarily due to lower average selling prices for grains and oilseeds the company handles.

The CHS propane and transportation businesses generated record earnings for the quarter due to a compressed, high-demand harvest season in much of the company’s trade area. Earnings for the company’s renewable fuels marketing business declined slightly for the quarter.

Fiscal 2014 first quarter earnings for the CHS Ag segment – which includes domestic and global grain and crop nutrients businesses, local retail operations and processing and food ingredients – increased slightly over the same period a year ago. This was primarily due to higher margins and service income at local retail operations. Earnings also increased for the company’s grain marketing business which achieved strong logistics performance. CHS processing and food ingredients operations experienced an earnings increase compared to the same period the previous year, primarily related to its soybean crushing and refining businesses.

CHS reports earnings for its food-related joint ventures and business services under Corporate and Other. Earnings for the quarter increased over the same period a year ago for the CHS shares of vegetable oil-based foods manufacturer and distributor Ventura Foods LLC, and wheat milling company Horizon Milling LLC. Combined earnings for CHS hedging, finance and insurance businesses declined slightly during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 compared with the first quarter of fiscal 2013.

The powerful Histadrut Labor Federation has declared a work dispute at Israel Chemical’s (ICL) Dead Sea Works. The union at the company has for the first time joined the labor dispute at other ICL subsidiaries, and is protesting ICL management’s decision to implement a recovery plan that involves the laying off of workers at all subsidiaries.

Dead Sea Works union leader Edmond Lankry charged that ICL’s management is trying to impose efficiency measures in an attempt to transfer more operations abroad or to sell it. He said that “just as we fought against management’s plans to sell ICL to the Canadians (PotashCorp), we will take action against the new plans.” The declaration means that Dead Sea workers could impose sanctions, including an all out strike, in two weeks time.

Up to now, Dead Sea Works has refrained from joining the labor action. Last week workers at another subsidiary, Rotem Amfert, imposed sanctions to protest the firing of workers. This followed a deadlock in negotiations between management and the union over conditions for workers to go on early retirement.

ICL management says that the company, like others in the fertilizer industry, is dealing with the sharp drop in prices that requires adjusting expenses. In addition, management claims ICL has been hit hard in the past year by a number of decisions by the Israeli government.

Yara announced on Jan. 13 that it has acquired H+H Umwelt- und Industrietechnik GmbH, a leader in marine selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology. Yara said the acquisition strengthens its portfolio of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions control systems, and continues its development into a global emissions-to-air abatement company.

“The H+H acquisition significantly increases our capacity in the emission-to-air reduction market, fitting well with Yara’s strategic goals as our air pollution abatement solutions are a growing part of our business,” said Yves Bonte, head of Yara’s Industrial segment. “There are clear synergies in bringing together technological know-how with Yara’s expertise and scale in reagent production and supply, enabling Yara to provide customers with a complete portfolio of NOx reduction solutions. This acquisition represents a firm step towards becoming a global provider of environmental solutions, including NOx reduction for diesel vehicles, industrial plants, and now ships.”

Founded in 1998, H+H is based in Hargesheim, Germany. The company designs and provides SCR exhaust gas treatment systems for the reduction of NOx emissions from marine engines and stationary land engines, and has more than 1,200 installed SCR units in activity around the world. “With Yara’s expertise, we can be even better positioned to help customers around the world achieve their environmental targets in a reliable and cost-effective manner,” said Michael Heck, H+H managing partner.

Concerned Rentech Shareholders, a group led by Engaged Capital LLC and Lone Star Value Management LLC, together one of the largest stockholders of Rentech Inc. (RTK) with aggregate ownership of approximately 4.6 percent of the outstanding shares of RTK, today announced it has submitted formal nominations of four independent, highly-qualified candidates for election to the board of directors of RTK at the upcoming 2014 annual meeting of RTK’s stockholders.

RTK owns the majority stake in Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP which owns fertilizer plants in East Dubuque, Ill., and Pasadena, Texas.

In a letter accompanying the nomination notice, Concerned Rentech Shareholders highlighted its frustration at the continued destruction of shareholder value at RTK and the persistent missteps and lapses in oversight that have caused the group to lose confidence in the current board’s ability to effectively oversee RTK. Concerned Rentech Shareholders concluded that immediate board reconstitution, including through direct shareholder representation, is needed to ensure that all decisions place the best interests of RTK’s shareholders first and foremost.

On Dec. 27 Concerned Rentech Shareholders revealed that it submitted to the board a formal request for exemption under the company’s Tax Benefit Preservation Plan to allow the group to acquire beneficial ownership in the aggregate of up to 7 percent of the outstanding shares of RTK’s stock. To date, the board has not responded to this request. The Rights Plan prohibits any RTK shareholder or group of shareholders from acquiring in excess of 5 percent of the company’s outstanding stock except in certain limited circumstances.

Glenn Welling of Engaged Capital and Jeff Eberwein of Lone Star Value commented: “Our decision to nominate four candidates for election at the 2014 Annual Meeting follows over a year of failed discussions with the Company in which our constructive suggestions were ignored and value destruction persisted. We believe it is imperative to inject an independent, fresh perspective in the boardroom in order to foster management accountability, instill capital discipline, and protect the interests’ of RTK’s shareholders.”

The four nominees include one with considerable fertilizer industry experience: Larry Holley, age 65, was senior vice president and chief operating officer of Mississippi Chemical Corp. where he was employed from November 1974 until January 2005. Other nominees include Jeffrey Brown, age 52, CEO and founding member of Brown Equity Partners LLC, which provides capital to management teams and companies needing equity; Jeffre Eberwein , 43, founder and CEO of Lone Star Value Management, an investment firm; and Glenn Welling, age 43, is the founder and chief investment officer of Engaged Capital, a California based activist investment firm and registered advisor with the SEC focused on investing in small and mid-cap North American equities.

RTK issued the following statement in response to the statement by the Concerned Rentech Shareholders:

"Rentech is always open to constructive input from our shareholders as part of the company’s constant focus on maximizing shareholder value. In keeping with our commitment to maintain a highly qualified and experienced board, Rentech’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee will carefully evaluate Engaged’s and Lone Star Value’s nominees and recommend in due course to the full board nominees that it believes will best serve the interests of the company and all of its shareholders.

"Our board of directors and management team continue to believe that execution of our strategy over the coming months will create significant value for shareholders. We have identified opportunities for substantial growth with attractive retur

Agrium Inc. said late Jan. 8 that it has completed a strategic review of its Agrium Advanced Technologies (AAT) business unit and has opted to move from three company business units to two—Wholesale and Retail. The transition will occur in first quarter 2014.

Agrium will move AAT’s agriculture business, which is comprised of Environmentally Smart Nitrogen (ESN) and micronutrients to the Wholesale unit. It said this will more effectively leverage Wholesale’s strengths in manufacturing and distribution. Both micronutrients and ESN were part of Agrium Wholesale prior to the creation of AAT. Agrium said ESN in particular will remain a key premium product offered by Agrium, given the strong growth in demand for this industry leading and environmentally-friendly product.

AAT’s Turf and Ornamental and Direct Solutions businesses are under further strategic review, with all options, including divesture, being considered. The review is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014.

Agrium said it will provide further communication and clarity on this matter, including the impact of any reorganization cost, as it works through the transition in the next few months. It said a key component of the transition plan will be to execute the changes seamlessly and minimize business disruption for customers, suppliers, and employees. It said the reorganization is expected to have a positive net benefit to Agrium’s on-going earnings profile.

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) said on Jan. 7 that it is concerned about “potentially burdensome new regulations” under consideration by a working group of federal agencies tasked with improving chemical safety and security in the wake of the April 17, 2013, ammonium nitrate (AN) explosion in West, Texas.

In response to an executive order issued by President Obama last August (GM Aug. 5, 2013), the working group on Jan. 3 issued a series of policy options and regulatory changes that it is considering, and asked stakeholders to submit comments on the proposed changes by March 31, 2014.

The working group consists of representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA); the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA); and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Among its proposals, the working group said that it is broadly considering options to improve the safe and secure storage, handling, and sale of AN; to expand OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard and EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) rule to address additional regulated substances and types of hazards, and to potentially revise the PSM retail exemption; and to add chemicals to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) chemicals of interest list, and change the screening threshold quantity for certain substances on that list.

Under the regulatory scope of OSHA, EPA, and NPPD, the working group says it is considering a number of options that have raised concerns with the chemical industry in the past, including “assessing safer alternatives as mechanisms to reduce chemical risk,” and expanding regulatory coverage of reactive substances and explosive chemical hazards such as AN. “There are a number of potential mechanisms to improve these areas, including voluntary programs, policy changes, new agency guidance, and regulations,” the working group said.

The group’s list of options for improving AN safety and security include adding AN to EPA’s RMP list of regulated substances; reducing the threshold quantity reporting requirement for AN under CFATS Top-Screen standard, which is currently set at 5,000 pounds or more of explosives-grade AN, 400 pounds or more of explosives-grade AN in transportation packaging, or 2,000 pounds of agricultural grade AN in transportation packaging; changing or eliminating a top-screen filing extension that is currently granted to agricultural facilities; using third-party audits “conducted by appropriate independent auditors who make process safety and regulatory compliance recommendations;” and evaluating the implementation of safer alternatives and best practices for AN.

Regarding the latter, the working group said several stakeholders have suggested incorporating “inherently safer technologies” into risk and process safety programs. “The agencies are requesting additional information on how this concept would be defined, accomplished, and measured,” the working group said. “In addition, the agencies are requesting comment on the potential costs and benefits of implementing such an approach as opposed to other approaches.”

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) issued a response on Jan. 6 to the working group report, saying that while it was encouraged to see “some of the concepts we have recommended,&rdquo