Sollio Agriculture, Pursell to jointly build fertilizer coating plant in Canada

Canada’s Sollio Agriculture and Alabama’s Pursell plan to spend $18 million to build a controlled-release fertilizers plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, a Canadian town on the north shore of Lake Erie, about halfway between Detroit and Buffalo, N.Y.

The plant will break ground in the fall of 2021 and is expected to become operational in August of 2022. Controlled-release fertilizer coatings improve the uptake of nutrients by plants.

“We are delighted to be joining forces with Pursell to make the numerous economic and environmental benefits of its CRF technology available to Canadian farmers,” said Sollio Agriculture CEP Casper Kaastra. “Local manufacturing reduces logistics expense to customers, provides the ability to offer previously unavailable CRF products to this market and supports nutrient stewardship initiatives associated with the use of fertilizer products.”

Pursell, which opened its flagship fertilizer coating plant in Sylacauga, Ala., in early 2018 has also initiated plans to open an additional plant in Savannah, Ga.

Pursell CEO Nick Adamchak said the joint venture with Sollio is a good fit because, “It’s located in close proximity to substrate and material suppliers and creates opportunities for retailers in the region to address the diverse nutrition needs of their customers in a predictable, prescriptive and profitable way.”

He added that the JV with Sollio is Pursell’s first license agreement with a company outside of the United States.

The St. Thomas plant will produce more than 100,000 metric tons once full capacity has been reached.