Belchim Crop Protection announced Monday it had increased its stake in the Guelph-based company — which it renamed Belchim Crop Protection Canada in 2017 — to 100 per cent for an undisclosed sum.

The Belgian parent firm’s investment “allows further integration and provides synergistic advantages that can be established between the parent company and its Canadian enterprise,” Belchim CEO Johan DeSaegher said in a release.

Belchim has had an interest in Engage Agro since 2016, when it bought an undisclosed minority stake, and raised it to 60 per cent at the end of that year.

Operating since 1995, the Canadian operation was best known for its work within the minor use registration system, developing, registering, selling and servicing products for markets such as horticulture, ornamentals, turf crops and row crops, “vegetation management” and other specialties.

The parent firm markets crop protection products in European Union member states, specializing in “important” EU crops such as potatoes, vines, vegetables and corn.

Belchim had said in 2016 it hoped to leverage the Engage Agro platform to bring its ag chem platform overseas.

In mid-2017, it also bought full control of Arizona-based Engage Agro USA, a deal it said offered a “ready-made platform” to market the parent firm’s portfolio to growers in the United States. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Philadelphia-based FMC will focus on increasing sales of crop chemicals developed internally, and avoid big acquisitions for a few years, after it closes a deal this year to swap its health and nutrition business for part of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.’s crop protection business, Brondeau said in an interview.

The deal, announced in late March, would vault FMC to the world’s No. 5 pesticide maker by sales from eighth-largest in a market where abundant grain production has softened crop prices.

The swap will bring to FMC 15 crop chemicals that DuPont has in development, adding to nine in FMC’s pipeline.

“My objective is we need to be… from an organic growth standpoint, the fastest-growing company in the industry,” Brondeau said. “We believe we can grow today, even if we are at the bottom of the (agriculture) cycle.”

FMC will target mid- to high single-digit annual revenue growth starting in 2018, Brondeau said.

Smaller producers, such as Nufarm and Sumitomo Corp.’s crop chemical business, might need to combine, Brondeau said.

“The big five are going to be so strong that some of these smaller companies are going to have to join forces,” he said.

Demand for crop chemicals has dropped in North America and Europe this year, but is climbing in Asia and Latin America, Brondeau said.

FMC shares hit a nearly three-year high in April following the DuPont deal.

While FMC aims for growth, a proposed U.S. border tax would be “really bad” for the industry, since production of certain chemical ingredients cannot easily move from other countries.

“Somebody is going to have to pay for it,” he said. “It would be U.S. farmers.”

FMC also produces lithium, a commodity in demand for use in electric vehicles.

The company will decide next year how to separate the lithium business, likely by initial public offering or spinoff. Selling it to a single buyer “is a very long shot,” as it would incur high taxes, Brondeau said.

FMC plans to decide by 2018 whether to roughly double lithium carbonate equivalent production in Argentina. Brondeau said there is “very high probability that it will be a go.”

— Rod Nickel is a Reuters correspondent covering the agriculture and mining sectors for Reuters from Winnipeg.

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“In agriculture, there’s no shortage of products that guarantee tremendous response for relatively low cost,” said Harry Brook. “Often, these products overpromise and underdeliver. A few years ago, the federal government changed requirements for fertilizer registration so that they only have to be proven safe, and not necessarily effective. This opened the door to many of these ‘miracle’ products.”

There are a number of warning flags to look for when it comes to claims about benefits.

“One of the most obvious is when the product’s claims are supported by user testimonials rather than by scientific results,” said Brook. “No details are then provided to back up the claims of the quoted users.”

Another sign to be wary of is the use of charts or bar graphs that highlight only the top part of the graph to exaggerate the actual difference between treatments.

“These rarely mention if the difference is significant or how trials were conducted. There is no explanation if the results are repeatable, or any indication as to how reliable the information is. No background or statistical measures are provided to support the graphs. If you are putting good money into a product, you want more than a five per cent chance of it actually making a difference.”

Also watch for research claims taken out of context.

“It’s easy to take some research results from one part of the world and transpose them on another,” said Brook. “For example, someone could try and take research on fertilizers on soils where farming has been going on for centuries to justify the use of products on soils that have been farmed for a century or less.

“The soil-forming processes for the areas can make radically different soils with different characteristics and nutrient levels.”

Always question the claims and if interested in a product, try a strip trial.

“Keep track of where the treated strips are and monitor those strips and then measure the results. Don’t go by colour or appearance, but look at the yield as you don’t get paid for anything else. For example, it is well known spraying iron on a crop will get it to turn dark green. It doesn’t necessarily translate into yield, but it does make a noticeable visual difference for a while.

“However, if it doesn’t add any extra yield, why do it?”

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