Agrium

Agrium Inc. was a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia and a wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and a supplier of specialty fertilizers in North America.

In 2018, Agrium merged with PotashCorp to form Nutrien.<ref name="CBCMerge">Template:Cite news</ref>

History

Agrium was founded as Cominco Fertilizers (short for Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) in 1931 and changed its name to Agrium in 1995. Agrium was headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Crop Production Services, Inc., a subsidiary company, was based in Loveland, Colorado and was the location of Agrium's Retail Business Unit head office. The company was a part-owner of Canpotex, which manages all potash exporting from Saskatchewan.<ref name="Canpotex Limited - Complete Profile"/>

On September 12, 2016, Agrium announced that it had agreed to merge with PotashCorp, which will make the combined company, Nutrien, the largest producer of potash and second-largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="cbc-agriummerge">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Agrium divested certain U.S. assets.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The merger closed on January 1, 2018.<ref name="CBCMerge"/>

Business units

Agrium operated in two business segments:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Retail

Agrium operated close to 1,500 retail agricultural centres in the U.S., Canada, South America and Australia under the brand names Crop Production Services (CPS), Crop Production Services Canada (CPSC), Agroservicios Pampeanos S.A. and Landmark.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Crop Production Services was acquired in 1994.

On December 3, 2010, Agrium announced the completion of the acquisition of the Australian Wheat Board for a total acquisition price of $1.236-billion Australian dollars.<ref name="Agrium completes acquisition of AWB"/> This acquisition added to the retail division of Agrium. Roughly 40% of the AWB holdings were sold to Cargill, including the Commodity Management Business.<ref name="Agrium Sells AWB Commodity Management Business to Cargill" />

In October 2013, Agrium announced the acquisition of Viterra's Canadian retail assets,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> after previously acquiring Viterra's retail locations in Australia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Wholesale

Industrial pier at a currently out-of-service Agrium fertilizer plant in Nikiski, Alaska.

The Wholesale segment produced nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and sulphur-based fertilizers. This segment also owned and operated a potash mine and production facility in the Rural Municipality of Vanscoy No. 345 in Saskatchewan, Canada, and a phosphate mine in Conda, Idaho, U.S.Template:Citation needed

The Wholesale segment engaged in the ownership of nitrogen-based fertilizer plants in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, and in Damietta, Egypt.Template:Citation needed

Environmental and social impacts

In 2003, Agrium was issued an administrative compliance order for excessive emissions at a Kennewick, Washington plant.<ref>Agrium U.S. faces Clean Air Act violations in Kennewick | Newsroom | US EPA</ref> Agrium discovered the violations at the Kennewick facility through a comprehensive Clean Air Act audit of the facility in late 2000. Agrium promptly reported the audit findings to EPA under EPA's policy on Incentives for Self-Policing, also referred to as the "Self-Disclosure Policy".Template:Citation needed In 2005, Agrium was fined for failure to disclose release of toxic gases at this same plant.<ref>Kennewick Fertilizer Plant Issued $24,575 Penalty for Late Reporting of Hazardous Gas Release | Newsroom | US EPA</ref>

External links

• Official site