A Texas company making biochemical additives for the crop fertilizer market has become an arm of Agrium’s Loveland crop input business.
Loveland Products announced Tuesday it’s bought a controlling stake in Agricen, the Dallas-area firm that makes Loveland’s Accomplish LM and Titan PBA products. Both products, sold in the U.S., include “biochemical-based” ingredients used to “enhance efficiency” of liquid and dry fertilizers respectively.
Based in Colorado, Loveland is the “proprietary products” provider for all of Calgary-based Agrium’s retail operations in North America, Australia and South America, including CPS.
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Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, other than the appointment of Loveland vice-president Brent Smith as chairman of Agricen’s board and Jeff Tarsi, vice-president of international retail for Agrium’s Crop Production Services (CPS) division, as an Agricen board member.
Agricen, which also makes SoilBuilder and NutriLife fertilizer catalysts for liquid and dry fertilizers respectively, will continue to operate under its own name as a Loveland subsidiary.
Loveland has also bought a stake in Agricen’s sister company, Agricen Sciences, a research firm developing “novel microbial and biochemical solutions for plant health and nutrition.”
Smith, in Agrium’s release, said the investments in the two companies are “the initial steps in the extension of our long-term strategy for the discovery and commercialization of next-generation technologies that enhance plant health and improve crop productivity.”
Given Loveland’s history with both companies, “this is a natural place to begin a new, concerted effort to deliver innovative and sustainable plant health technologies that complement conventional growing practices around the world,” he said. — AGCanada.com Network
