Insights and Stories of Rod Nickel

Jun. 24, 2013 at 6:02 pm CDT

Seed developer Monsanto said on Monday it will spend $100 million over the next 10 years on breeding corn for Western Canada — a move it said might change the crop makeup in a fertile region that produces big harvests of spring wheat and canola. Monsanto said it would focus […]

By Rod Nickel

Jun. 4, 2013 at 8:14 am CDT

Canadian fertilizer company Agrium stepped back from two projects that would have expanded its capacity to make nitrogen-based fertilizer, partly because numerous competitors are pursuing similar plans. Agrium, the world’s third-largest nitrogen producer, said on Monday that it would suspend engineering work on a proposed $3 billion plant in the […]

By Rod Nickel

May. 22, 2013 at 6:10 pm CDT

Russia’s Uralkali OAO would delay two of its potash mine expansion projects for as long as a decade if rival BHP Billiton builds the world’s biggest mine of the crop nutrient, Uralkali’s chief executive said in an interview. Uralkali is aiming to become the largest global producer of potash by […]

By Rod Nickel

May. 17, 2013 at 5:42 pm CDT

Canada will put forward a list of U.S. products it wants to target in retaliation for U.S. country-of-origin meat labels if last-minute changes to U.S. label regulations don’t prove satisfactory, Canadian officials said on Friday. The dispute stems from a 2009 U.S. requirement that retail outlets put the country of […]

By Rod Nickel

May. 9, 2013 at 7:03 pm CDT

Canadian fertilizer and ag retail firm Agrium reported lower quarterly profit on Thursday, as cold, wet spring weather delayed plantings in the U.S., and forecast weaker-than-expected earnings for its current quarter. U.S. plantings of corn, a fertilizer-intensive crop, were just 12 per cent complete as of Sunday, the slowest pace […]

By Rod Nickel